Visit the home site of the national office to find useful information on how the program works as well as guidance in for creating projects.
National History Day
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania supports National History Day through research assistance in the classroom and after-school, teacher professional development, and travel grants to help winners attend competitions. National History Day (NHD) is a great program to help students practice research and critical thinking skills, elements important to their future in the workplace and school.
NHD is actually a year-long educational program proven to increase test scores and thinking skills for the thousands of middle and high school students from across the United States who participate. Each year students chose topics related to a theme. The theme for for National History Day 2013 is Turning Points in History. See below for topics related to this for which HSP has wonderful sources.
After researching their chosen topic, participants gain first-hand experience producing a documentary, exhibit, essay, performance, or website to submit in a local contest. The winners move on to a state competition. Those winners move on to the national competition in Washington.
| NHD Philly contest | March 20-21, 2013 |
| NHD Pennsylvania state contest | May 3-4, 2013 |
| NHD national contest | June 9-13, 2013 |
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 HSP staff give students a head-start on their NHD research by listing topics related to the NHD theme for which we have resources. Click here to see if we have primary sources you can use! |
 In Philadelphia, National History Day Philly provides support to teachers and students on how to participate as well as running the regional competition. |
 Struggling with what is a primary source? How to evaluate the accuracy of a source found on the web? This American Library Association site provides students and teachers excellent resources. |
 The National Archives provides excellent resources for teachers involved with National History Day, especially in how to teach with primary sources. A special section of the site lists documents from its collection related to the annual theme. |
 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has many resources available for teachers, including lesson plans, primary sources, publications, and digitized images. This video, led by Beneficial National History Day Teacher Fellow Claire Frosch, provides an overview. |
Partnership:HSP is able to support
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