New Jersey History Day: Doing History, Discovering New Jersey

Abstract

There is an increasingly expanding movement happening in classrooms across New Jersey towards teaching history through an inquiry designed program. For educators, participation in New Jersey History Day (NJHD) is a vehicle to teach history for all the reasons that make it such a critically important subject in a student’s education and provides an opportunity for students to engage in historical research. Working on an NJHD project teaches critical thinking, writing, and research skills and boosts performance across all subjects. Along the way, sometimes by design and sometimes by chance, students are enriched by learning about the history all around them in their home state of New Jersey.