The study is to examine if preservice teachers improve their social studies teaching and learning when they follow a structured and guided methods course based on the four-step social studies teaching cycle. The four steps are 1) preinstructional exploration, 2) assessment development, 3) instructional development, and 4) reflective extension. The study investigates the impact of "backward" assessment and guided reflective practice on preservice teachers' social studies teaching and learning. The subjects of the study were teacher education students enrolled in a social studies methods course. The study used the reflective writings to explore the impact of "backward" assessment development and guided reflective thinking skills on their social studies teaching and learning. The results showed significant improvement in participants' teaching and their students' learning after they adopted "backward" assessment and guided reflective practice. (Contains 36 notes, 2 tables and 1 figure.)