This is a descriptive study that describes the teacher educators that teach the early and middle childhood social studies methods courses in Ohio colleges and universities. The specific purpose of this study was to investigate: (1) "How" do we know if the teacher educators teaching the early and middle childhood social studies methods courses are grounded in the importance of social studies?, (2) "What" actions in the early and middle childhood social studies methods course do the early and middle childhood social studies teacher educators in the study describe as advocacy for elementary school social studies?, and (3) "How" do these teacher educators teach their students to respond to the marginalization of elementary school social studies? The study also focused on identifying ways teacher educators are advocating for elementary social studies in early and middle childhood social studies methods courses in an era when content disciplines are competing for pedagogical time. To collect data the researcher used a survey research design through an on-line data collection service called SurveyMonkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/). The participant list consisted of 84 teacher educators from 45 Ohio colleges and universities offering an accredited undergraduate teacher preparation program that leads to licensure to teach social studies in elementary school classrooms (grades Kindergarten through five) in the state of Ohio. The questionnaire, titled "Advocating for Elementary Social Studies: Where does it Begin"?, consisted of two sections: (a) Participant Demographics and Background Data and (b) Professional Viewpoints. The researcher used a five-step process to increase response rate; 51 responses (61%) was collected. The statistical package used to perform the data analysis in this study was the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 17 for Windows. The data showed: the professional backgrounds are varied but related to their job as social studies methods course instructors for pre-service teachers; the years of teaching experiences are varied but with a majority of the teaching experience having five or more years teaching in an elementary classroom; that advocacy is important to the teacher educators but conflicts with the number of study participants that belonged to social studies professional organizations that directly advocate for elementary school social studies. The study includes implications for Teacher Preparation Programs and recommendations for further research of early and middle childhood social studies teacher educators, first year elementary school teachers that advocate for elementary school social studies, and the National Council for the Social Studies and the Ohio Council for the Social Studies to examine how to address the marginalization of elementary school social studies. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]