Abstract
This article explores preservice teachers' resistance to elementary history teaching that makes explicit and accessible the construction of historical knowledge for students. Using qualitative data from a 3-semester-long critical action research study, the author examines two themes of resistance voiced by a majority of 70 preservice teachers: interpretation in elementary history teaching is (1) developmentally and (2) morally inappropriate for young children. The author contends that a particular “inherited discourse” of teaching, a discourse of protection, not only serves to legitimize preservice teachers' resistance to interpretation in history teaching, but allows preservice teachers to avoid engaging difficult epistemological and moral questions that make them feel uncomfortable. Reflections on the social studies methods course and implications for social studies teacher education are offered.
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