Walden, a game

CIVIL Disobedience

Lesson overview

Thoreau’s hometown of Concord, Massachusetts, often called the “birthplace of freedom” in the United States, was also a gathering place for passionate abolitionists. These activists condemned the hypocrisy of a government that celebrated freedom and liberty while enslaving millions of Black people and making war against Mexico to expand its slave territories. In this game-based learning experience, students explore the nature of informed civic action from Thoreau’s time to the present day. Supporting the 15-30 minute gameplay experience are a set of modular lessons that will extend and deepen students’ reading of his essay Civil Disobedience, and the nature of becoming an engaged participant in society. 

After completing this lesson students will be able to:

Analyze the meaning of freedom in our society.

Identify issues and civic action around slavery and abolitionism leading up to the Civil War.

Compare and contrast writings about abolitionism and civic responsibility by Thoreau and contemporary authors.

Evaluate ways in which people can take civic action around issues that matter to them.

Create their own activist campaigns for issues that matter to them.

Gameplay

The Civil Disobedience game module is a first person exploration game that prompts students to explore the town of Concord, Massachusetts on July 4th in the mid-19th century. As they explore, students will discover issues around abolition, slavery, and expansionism facing the people of time and responding to them as an engaged citizen. The module is 30 minutes long, but can be ended early if class time is limited.

During the game, students will:

Discover the issues by finding and reading posters, newspapers and articles. 

Find passages from Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience by gathering arrowheads. 

Discuss the issues by interacting with townspeople on the questions they face and choosing whether to publish an article about “Slavery in Massachusetts”. 

Take personal action by choosing whether or not to attend a rally, sign a petition, or purchase free produce. 

Become an activist by protesting unjust laws -- refusing to pay taxes, aiding fugitives on the Underground Railroad. 

At the end of the game module, students will be shown a recap screen reviewing their engagement with the issues. The screen will allow students to save and print their in-game journal. The journal will include the passages students found (all of them are excerpts from Civil Disobediences about civil engagement and individual responsibility).  It also includes records of their interactions with other objects in the virtual environment such as people, posters, and articles.