This initiative takes elements from “Walden, a Game” and turns them into lessons that can be experienced within a classroom, in order to help teach the various themes and ideas both in Thoreau’s writings as well as the historical era he lived in.

A major technical challenge was take a game meant for modern video game consoles like the X-Box and PlayStation and optimizing it in order to run on a Chromebook, a common platform used by high schools. Targeting the Chromebook platform and having the experience browser-based has allowed for a wider audience, and helped overcome many of the challenges of bringing such an experience into the classroom.

The series of modules explore Thoreau’s philosophy in living deliberately, as well as his (and his community’s) views on civil disobedience and activism, and are tied into an included curriculum meant to augment a teacher’s outline of the book and historical period. Students completing a module can print out a journal that includes their activities while encouraging them to continue to think and write about the themes explored.

The modules are free for interested teachers, simply requiring signing up to the site here:

https://www.waldengame.com/educators