Organization description
We make educational games, the tools to make them and the lessons to use to teach with them. Almost all of our games teach math and have a Latino or Indigenous history story line because every game needs a good story and history is full of them.
Project description
Our goal is to collaborate with educators of rural and Indigenous students in the western United State to create educational games that honor Indigenous history using primary sources. This project addresses the TPS goal to deliver TPS programming, materials, and tools that effectively meet the educational needs of diverse learner communities. We have completed six games, with two more in progress.
Warrior Vets, focused on the history of Native American veterans from World War I through the present, using primary sources from the Library of Congress.
You are Here: On the Lewis & Clark Trail, is a game that teaches STEM on the trail, from the perspectives of Merriwether Lewis and William Clark, as well as the Indigenous people they visited along their journey. This game narrative relies on the Lewis and Clark journals and books by Edward Goodbird from the Library of Congress and uses photos from the Library collection in game videos and visual novel formats.
Follow the bubbles – Social Studies content includes discussion and examples primary source, hangman games to teach vocabulary and a couple of math mini-games (tic-tac-toe and caves and ladders) to review multiplication and division. Bonus: This game is 100% accessible for players with visual impairments.
The Greasy Door teaches the Lakota value of generosity and addresses Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings Standard 2.3 – Recognize that there is a continuum of tribal identity, ranging from traditional to contemporary lifestyle that includes the challenges of living in two worlds.
Healing Journeys – This short game, tells the story of Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American doctor, and can be played in 15-20 minutes, maybe a little less if your students don’t hit too many buffalo with their train.
Plant Knowledge – Designed for grades 5-7. This short game has four levels teaching about important plants (sage, sweetgrass and prairie turnips), food preservation, Hidatsa agriculture and chokecherries.
As well as collaborating in game design, teachers create lessons using both the games developed and other primary sources discovered in their research.
