"In Teaching History for the Common Good, Barton and Levstik present an overview of competing ideas among educators, historians, politicians, and the public about the nature and purpose of teaching history, and they evaluate these debates in light of current research on students' historical thinking. In many cases, disagreements about what should be taught to the nation's children, and how it should be presented, reflect fundamental differences that will not easily be resolved. A central premise of this book, though, is that systematic theory and research can play an important role in such debates, by providing evidence of how students think, how their ideas interact with the information they encounter both in school and out, and how these ideas differ across contexts. Such evidence is needed as an alternative to the untested assumptions that plague so many discussions of history education." "Teaching History for the Common Good is essential reading for history and social studies professionals, researchers, teacher educators, and student's as well as for policy-makers, parents, and members of the general public who are interested in history education or in students' thinking and learning about the subject."--Jacket.