Over the last fifteen years, cognitive theorists and researchers have begun to take seriously a perspective long familiar to anthropologists and other social theorists-that social and cultural factors significantly influence human thought and learning. Usually referred to as situated cognition or situated learning, this approach emphasises that thinking does not take place solely "inside the head" but is in large part determined by social context-particularly the social settings in which people learn and the culturally defined purposes which guide their learning. (See, for example, Lave and Wenger, 1991; Rogoff, 1990, 1984.) This perspective has important implications for educators: If we hope to understand children's historical thinking we cannot limit ourselves to observing whether they have masteredt he content of the school curriculum or whether they think like historians, for it may be other settings and other purposes which have a more profound impact on their understanding. In order to plan and implement effective instruction, then, teachers and curriculum planners must take into account the social settings which guide children's learning about the past. This paper summarises the results of three recent studies in the United States which shed light on how students' understanding is shaped by the larger society of which they are a part.