1. National History Day One Day Can Change the Course
nhd.org

2. Program Overview Each year, more than half a million students,
encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide
participate in the NHD contest. Students choose
historical topics related to a theme and conduct
extensive primary and secondary research through
libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews
and historic sites. After analyzing and interpreting
their sources and drawing conclusions about their
topics’ significance in history, students present their
work.

3. Program Levels Teacher Campus District/Regional (FBHD)
Texas Contest (THD)
National Contest (NHD)

4. Program Structure Divisions Categories Senior: High School (9-12)
Junior: Middle School (6-8)
Categories
Historical Papers Individual
Documentaries Individual Group
Exhibits Individual Group
Performances Individual Group
Websites Individual Group

5. General Rules
Students may participate in the research, preparation, and presentation of only one entry each year.
Groups may include 2 to 5 students
All categories except historical papers must include a “process paper” with their entry.
An annotated bibliography is required for all categories. The annotations for each source must explain how you used the source and how it helped you understand your topic.

6. Why Take on This Project?
Social Studies Skills TEKS
Development of real-world skills
Students get to “do” Social Studies
Differentiated learning opportunity

7. Choosing a Topic
History Day themes are usually very general. For example, “The Individual in History.”
The generality of the theme allows students to choose a topic that they are truly interested in. Whether that be history, art, science, literature, sports, music, etc.

8. Choosing a Topic (Cont.)
As a general guideline, students should try not choose a topic that has occurred within the last twenty years. It is not a rule, it just takes time to see the effects of historical events.

9. Theme 2009 The Individual in History 2010 Innovation in History
2011 Diplomacy and Dialogue in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences
2012 Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History
Turning Points In History
Rights And Responsibilities
Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange
Taking A Stand In History
Conflict and Compromise In History

10. Primary & Secondary Sources
Primary Sources
A. Definition: an item made at or near the time of a historical event by someone who observed the event first hand.
1. usually a written record
2. can also include visual evidence and physical objects
B. Examples: newspaper, articles, census records, letters, photographs, diaries, maps, and sound recordings.
Secondary Sources
A. Definition: an item that provides a second hand interpretation of an event after some time has passed.
often based on primary sources
can use other secondary sources
B. Examples: history books, reference books, maps, and tables based on other sources.

11. Interviews Consider Interviewing people for some of your sources
Helps direct all research
Assists students in narrowing focus
Forces students to think about their topic by developing the interview questions
More fun than just reading all the time. 

12. Interview Questions
Binary--These are good for obtaining factual information that falls into the yes-no, true-false category of answer.
Good questions for the students to start with because they are easy to write.

13. Interview Questions
Fill-in-the-blank--This type of question has a simple answer, usually a name, frequency, or quantity, which is the kind of information these questions are good at obtaining.

14. Where do I find a person to interview?
Topic Library—example Space Shuttle

15. Where do I find a person to interview?
Museum
RELATED SEARCHES
Danville Tank Museum
Patton Tank Museum
Tiger Tank Museum
Tank Museum California
Tank Museum Bovington
Tank Museum Maryland
German Tank Museum Munster
Tank Restoration

16. Where do I find a person to interview?
University

17. Where do I find a person to interview?
Teacher or school personnel
Teacher worked at NASA
Teacher worked at Medical Center
Teacher who has outside interests
Relative who was in the military
Neighbor who has an interesting job
Parents who know people 

18. Narrowing the Focus
History Day projects should be specific rather than general.
It is difficult to engage in quality analysis if the focus is too broad.
Students should choose a topic that interests them, but that they do not already have a great deal of knowledge about.

19. Placing the Topic into Context
Once a focused topic had been chosen, students should then work on placing the topic into a national and/or global context.
This promotes in-depth analysis of the topic. In other words, why is the topic important to many people?

20. Research (Cont.) Resources for Research: County Libraries
University Libraries
University Professors, or Other Experts on the Topic…Interviews!!!!!!!! 
Internet

21. Bibliography Quality over quantity.
Having a wide variety of sources is best.
Not all internet sources, VARIETY! 
Use the MLA format when creating a bibliography.

22. Bibliography (Cont.)
The bibliography needs to be separated between primary and secondary sources.
The bibliography also needs to be annotated.
The annotations for each source explains to the reader the importance of that source to the project as a whole.

23. You Be The Judge

24. Campus Contest
Several projects from each category make it to the “Campus Finals.”
As of now, 3 projects from each category make it from Campus Finals to District Competition

25. NHD 08-09
Building/
Campus
Competition
Teacher Name
Category
Project Title
Student(s) Name(s)
Bassett, Damien
Carter, Judy

26. History Day: A Meaningful Way to Learn History and Social Studies Skills
Wow! Are your children fortunate and blessed to have you for parents. This turnout is awesome! Thank you so very much for being here. I am so thrilled to have this opportunity to talk to you about National History Day. This program is a fantastic opportunity for your children to experience history outside of the classroom. Each year, as many as 10,000 Texas students are involved in the program at the regional level, 800 students participate at the state level and approximately 50 students represent Texas at National History Day in Maryland.

27. Program Description National History Day Focus on all history
Project Based
Awards are available for quality research
For 6th-12th
*The National History Day experience can deeply enhance students’ understanding of history; can teach them to think like historians; help them develop an enduring understanding of patterns and events that shaped today’s world. Historical thinkers are critical thinkers. Some of the skills and perspectives gained by learning to think historically enable students to:
Make comparisons
Make predictions
Show cause/effect
Show historical empathy
Look at something from a different viewpoint than the standard accepted viewpoint
Show several perspectives
Ponder questions about a topic
Examine an author’s motive/bias
Understand broad generalizations about historical patterns
Question the current interpretation of primary sources
National History Day provides an authentic purpose for learning and takes learning outside of the classroom. National History Day promotes lifelong learning. The students learn life skills in:
Being able to work collaboratively in a group
Persevere on a difficult or complex task
Practice self-discipline in completing tasks
Evaluate oneself
Communicate clearly with others
*NHD is project based. The students have five categories to choose from.
Exhibit
Documentary
Performance
Research paper
Website
*Awards are available for quality research other than the being awarded 1st and 2nd place. I have included a list of these awards in your packets. With many of these awards, you may notice that not only do the students receive satisfaction for winning the award but they receive a monetary award, as well.
*Students in grades 6 through 12 are eligible to participate

28. What does NHD look like?
*Choices – the students should select a topic they are truly interested in. Conflict and Compromise is this year’s theme is so broad that it presents students with many fascinating opportunities to explore. You also have got to be careful when choosing your topic that you do not choose a fairly recent event. Otherwise, you won’t be able to historically analyze your event because it isn’t finished yet. The impact and significance a recent event has made in history is difficult to determine. A good rule-of-thumb is to pick a topic at least twenty years old. 9/11 is too recent. When choosing the type of project you also want to do be sure the category fits the topic. Some topics work for any category, but other topics lend themselves better to specific categories. For example, good visual materials are needed for exhibits and documentaries. Topics and events that occurred prior to the invention of the camera in the 1850s are difficult, but not impossible, to do in the documentary category. Remarkable people in the public eye often make good topics for the performance category.
*Now I would like to show you a segment of a NHD documentary

35. Websites http://42758196.nhd.weebly.com http://41129682.nhd.weebly.com
2010 – THD 1st place winner from FBISD
2011 – THD 1st place winner from FBISD
QVMS, Regional, and State Winner, went to Nationals in Washington D.C.

36. Performances
2008 – Trent Butler’s Project

37. How does the competition work?
National History Day
Levels of
Competition

38. Additional Resources Colleagues/Teachers Librarians
Librarians
Historical Societies and Sites
Archives and Archivists
Subject Matter Experts