History Games

Montana Office of Public Instruction sponsors a Best Practices conference every year.  There are always wonderful sessions to attend and learn from.  This year one of my favorites turned out to be a presenter from Montana PBS.  PBS and the Dept of Education and teamed together to create a video game called Cheyenne Odyssey http://www.mission-us.org/.

It is based on an actual historic event.  There is a section for teachers that provides resources to use the game in the classroom.

I was very impressed when I learned how closely they had worked and listened to the Northern Cheyenne Elders and Cultural Committee.  The art work corresponds very closely to the real geographical area.  When you listen to the avatars speak you are hearing tribal members.

Best of all my students love the game.  They have asked to play it on a number of occasions.  Mission US has several other games based on historic events.