A strong case can be made for increasing the hours of the social studies methods course from three to six semester hours. One of the major problems of secondary social studies classes is the unimaginative, unexciting, and predominant practice of transmitting unexamined and unquestioned facts and information to the students. Social studies education majors typically take from 45 to 60 hours of social science courses compared to 3 or 4 hours of social studies courses. This is an insufficient amount of time to help students to learn how to teach. The social studies methods course should be used to facilitate change and to help potential teachers learn current practices and concerns and learn and understand the theories that support social studies education. After years of effort, a teacher at a southern university won acceptance for a 6-hour course consisting of 2 sequential 3-hour courses. The two sets of course outlines are presented in an appendix. The first course relates to the definition and purpose of social studies education, recent research, trends and issues, and instructional approaches. The second course is designed to develop skills necessary for effective social studies classroom instruction. (KWL)