National History Day in ND
State Competition
May 4 -8, 2020
ND Heritage Center & State Museum
Due to developments regarding the COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the upcoming National History Day in North Dakota state contest will be held online during the week of May 4th through 8th. All students in North Dakota who have an entry to submit are encouraged to participate, regardless of whether or not their school is currently in session or if they participated in a regional contest. To be included in the virtual contest contact the State History Day Coordinator, Dani Stuckle, at dlstuckle@nd.gov by April 15th. If your project isn’t finished, and/or you don’t have access to all of your materials, please contact us for advice about what steps you can take to compete in the virtual contest.
If you have questions about on-going contest planning, and potential contingency plans, please contact the State History Day Coordinator, Dani Stuckle, at dlstuckle@nd.gov or 701-328-2794.
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Contact:
Danielle “Dani” Stuckle
NHD in ND Affiliate Coordinator
701.328.2794
dlstuckle@nd.gov
What is National History Day?
National History Day in North Dakota is a project-based learning program that emphasizes critical reading and thinking skills, research, analysis, and the drawing of meaningful conclusions. Students can complete these projects in groups or as individuals in one of five categories: documentary, paper, exhibit, performance, or website. They then compete in either the junior (middle school) or senior (high school) division. Regional winners compete at the state contest in April at the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum in Bismarck. First and second-place state winners are eligible to compete in the national contest at the University of Maryland, College Park in June. National History Day in North Dakota provides teacher training and classroom resources throughout the year.
2020 Theme: Breaking Barriers in History
The National History Day theme for 2020 is Breaking Barriers in History. Join us this year as we examine the people, places, and events of history within the broad framework of building and breaking barriers. What does “breaking barriers” mean? Is a barrier human-made, like the Berlin Wall, or natural, like the Atlantic Ocean? Is it physical, like barbed wire, or ideological, like the Iron Curtain? Are barriers always negative, or can they be a positive influence—like antibiotics as a barrier to spreading disease? Your project could focus on North Dakota or on a historical movement from around the world. There are plenty of potential research topics in North Dakota history that relate to breaking barriers.
Getting Started
When developing a National History Day project, consider all the important questions and factors that contributed to the development and breaking of a barrier. What happened? Who was involved? Where and when did it occur? Why did it happen? Most importantly, ask yourself, "so what?" What was the impact of breaking a barrier? How did it affect the culture, lives, or environment of a community or the world? What were the short- and long-term outcomes? Was the barrier broken? Why is this topic important, and why must we understand its effects today? Use this Graphic Organizer to help students examine all these questions and the greater historical context within the theme of Breaking Barriers in History.