Researchers have been documenting the unfortunate status of social studies in the elementary classroom since the 1980s (J. Stark 1987), and although a lack of teacher interest, poor instructional methods, and the No Child Left Behind Act may be the current contributing factors, these factors should be viewed as just the tip of the iceberg. The often-overlooked and most detrimental factor is that most elementary teachers have not been taught the nature and purpose of social studies, because the majority of courses that they have taken deal with methodology and pedagogy rather than content. Using the National Council for Social Studies standards as the curriculum framework for a social studies methods course can greatly expand the elementary preservice teachers' concepts of social studies, and studying the student performance expectations associated with each standard can help preservice teachers to see the practical application of each standard in the elementary classroom. (Contains 1 table.)