History Teaching and National Identity among High School Students: The Mediating Role of Flow and the Moderating Role of Traditional Festival Ritual Sense

National identity among adolescents is a critical factor in a country's development.Grounded in Social Identity Theory and Constructivist Learning Theory, this investigation examines the impact of history teaching on high school students' national identity, incorporating flow as a mediator and traditional festival ritual sense as a moderator.A survey was conducted among 827 Chinese high school students using the History Teaching Scale, National Identity Scale, Flow Scale, and Traditional Festival Ritual Sense Scale.The results showed that: (1) Participants demonstrated elevated levels of history teaching and national identity, with moderately high scores in traditional festival ritual sense and flow; (2) Significant positive intercorrelations emerged among all four variables -history teaching, national identity, traditional festival ritual sense, and flow; (3) History teaching not only directly and positively predicted national identity but also exerted an indirect effect through flow mediation.Traditional festival ritua l sense functioned as a significant moderator, with the positive influence of flow on national identity being particularly pronounced when traditional festival ritual sense was at lower levels.These findings underscore the pedagogical importance of enhancing history instruction while cultivating traditional festival ritual sense and flow in secondary education.