History Day: It's not just a day, it's an experience

Yvonne Roux, Curriculum LibrarianDavid and Lorraine Cheng LibraryWilliam Paterson UniversityNJASL Conference, December 4, 2010

What is History Day? Founded in 1974 by a history professor at Case Western Reserve University to spark interest in teaching and learning history in middle schools and high schools.

The contest expanded, becoming a national organization in 1980; in 1992 NHD headquarters were relocated to College Park, MD.

Individual states hold regional and/or state competitions. Winners from state competitions compete in the National History Day contest at the University of Maryland (five days).

In these contests students present historical research completed during the school year. The contest is the capstone of a year-long process intended to emphasize research and crit ical thinking skil ls.

Annual ThemesStudent entries must relate to the annual NHD theme

2005 - Communication 2006 - Taking a Stand 2007 - Triumph and Tragedy2008 – Conflict & Compromise2009 - The Individual in History2010 – Innovation in History2011 -- Debate & Diplomacy

NHD Student Project Categories Documentary Exhibit Paper Per formance WebsiteEach category has its own rules for length, size, format, etc.

Student entries in any category are further classified as: Junior (Grades 6-8) or Senior division (Grades 9-12), and Individual or Group (2 or more) projects.

All entries must be accompanied by a process paper (no more than 500 words) and an annotated bibl iography.

Documenting NHD Student Research

Process Papers should be organized in four sections:

1. How a topic was chosen.2. How research was conducted.3. How presentation category was selected and

how project was created.4. How project relates to the NHD theme.

Documenting NHD Student Research

Annotated Bibliographies should be: Divided into primary and secondary sources. Written in MLA or Turabian citation style Contain 1-3 sentence annotations for each item

that "explain how the source was used and how it helped you understand your topic.“

At History Day Competit ions…Student entr ies are evaluated by teams of volunteer judges

The judging process includes:• reading or viewing of project & documentation• a brief interview of contestants, and • written feedback af ter the contest is over.

Criteria for judging entries: Historical Quality (60%) Relation to Theme (20%) Clarity of Presentation (20%) Rules Compliance

Sample judging forms onl ine at: http://www.nhd.org/CreatingEntry.htm

An evaluation study conducted by research firm, Rockman et al, provides evidence that NHD works

Researchers compared NHD participants to students who did not participate in NHD

Looked at: Performance assessments Standardized test scores Academic performance Interest in current events

On nearly every measure, NHD students’ scores or ratings were higher than their peers who did not participate in the program.

TEACHES critical thinking , writing , and re se arch skills and boos ts pe rformance across all subje cts .

  INSPIRES s tude nts to do more than the y e v e r

thought the y could.  PREPARES s tude nts for colle ge , care e r and

citiz e nship.

NHD has a pos itive impact among s tudents whos e interes ts in academic s ubjects may wane in high s chool

Among Black and Latino students, NHD students outperform non-NHD students, posting higher performance assessment scores and levels of interest and skills.

  Compared to non-NHD boys and to all girls, boys

participating in NHD reported significantly higher levels of interest in history, civic engagement, and confidence in research skills, on both pre- and post-surveys.

, NHD s tudents had more exemplary writing s cores and fewer lows cores

- -When as ked about the ir confidence in a varie ty of career and college , ready s kills NHD s tudents have an edge over the ir peers

Performance as s es s ments s how that NHD s tudents overall were s ignificantly better than the ir peers at interpreting his torical

information

Library Suppor t for History Day Research

Student research for History Day projects is based on the productive use of primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources can include: Contemporary letters, diaries, manuscripts, or other documents – published or unpubl ished – relating to the topic

Oral history evidence from witnesses to historical events, including evidence col lected through student interviews

Newspapers and other periodicals from the t ime of the topic

Visual evidence including photographs, f i lms, drawings, maps

Physical evidence including buildings and objects of al l kinds

Numerical data such as census statistics

Sources of Information for Student Research

School l ibrarians can be valuable par tners in History Day projects by guiding students to source materials:

School Libraries Public Libraries Academic Libraries Historical Sites and Local Archival Repositories Local Historical Societies and Museums Local “Witnesses” and “Exper ts” . . . And on the Web

Some Useful Internet ResourcesThe National History Day website features a directory of l inks towell -selected resources that focus on:

• Research Methods and Citation• Guides for Teachers• Primary Source Repositories on the Web• Sites Designed for the NHD Program

Go to: http://www.nhd.org/ResearchCentral.htm

New Jersey ResourcesThe New Jersey History Day website features a directory

of l inks towell -selected resources that focus on:

• Archives & Libraries• Museums & Historic Sites• NJ History Websites• US History Websites • World History Websites

 Go to: http://nj.nhd.org/

Judges Are Needed for 2011 !Nor thern Regional Contest at Seton Hall University on

Saturday, Apri l 2Southern Regional Contest at Kean University on Sunday,

March 27

State contest, New Jersey History Day at Will iam Paterson University on Saturday, May 7

National History Day at the University of Maryland from June 12 -16

Workshops and training for judges - - TBA

For more information, contact NHD State Coordinator for NJ:

Nancy Norris-BauerWilliam Paterson University

Phone: 973-720-3978Email: [email protected]