The purpose of this study was to investigate social studies teachers conceptions of history andpedagogical orientations toward teaching history. Qualitative research methods were employed in thestudy. Purposeful sampling procedure was used to select the participants. A semi-structured interviewform was used to gather research data which were analyzed via the methods of descriptive data analysis.The study results showed that a naive epistemological view of history characterized the participants conceptions of history which were limited to the subject of history, the past, without including oth erimportant elements of history. Gender of the participants had effects on their conceptions of history andtheir perspectives on the purposes of history teaching. Male teachers conceptions of history were morenationalistic than female teachers . When explaining their conceptions of history, male teachers tended todraw on such concepts as nation and national history. In contrast, female teachers employed universa lconcepts such as humanity, the past, and civilizations in their explanations. Whereas male teachersemphasized the importance of teaching national past and national culture to the young generations asimportant aims of history teaching, female teachers went beyond these traditional aims by stressing theneed to develop students higher-order thinking skills. There was c onsensus among the participants perspectives on the place of history in the social studies curriculum. They all thought that there w as asuperficial treatment of history topics in the curriculum. Teachers instructional approaches to tea chinghistory and the problems they c onfront when teaching it are also included in the study findings.