National History Day China

National History Day is a nonprofit based in College Park, Maryland, that has run an annual project-based history program for students in grades 6-12 since 1974. Each year, students choose a topic connected to an annual theme, research it through primary and secondary sources, and present their work as a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website. Projects advance from local and affiliate contests to a national contest each June at the University of Maryland, and more than half a million students take part annually. Mark Johnson, a former Concordia Shanghai teacher, founded National History Day China in 2008. It grew out of a student research project exploring the lives of Chinese immigrants to Montana in the 19th century. As it grew, the program brought NHD's

student-driven, project-based model to International schools in China: students choose a topic tied to an annual theme, research it through primary sources, and present their findings to judges. COVID pushed the NHD China contest online for several years. In 2023, NHD China was re-launched as an in-person contest. Concordia supported this flying in two NHD representatives from the United States who worked with dozens of teachers from across the affiliate on how to integrate NHD projects into the curriculum as well as how to teach historical thinking. Since then, the contest has grown substantially, more than doubling in size from its pre-COVID levels.