For students in social studies methods courses, demonstration activities serve a twofold purpose: They help university students to become social studies teachers and they encourage elementary school ...children to learn social studies. In this article, the authors report on three social studies demonstration activities: (1) International Cultural Center Day; (2) Laura Ingalls Wilder Theme Day; and (3) India Peace and Understanding Day. They describe the sites, participants, and general procedures and give a rationale to support the use of demonstration activities. They also consider the implications of the lessons for teacher educators and students. They conclude that through demonstration activities, inservice teachers learn new content, techniques, and procedures as they watch the preservice teachers in action. When members of the community as well as school children and teachers are invited to the demonstrations, participants of all ages can learn from the social studies methods students.
