History Adventures
History Adventures is the flagship interactive series from Spencer Striker Digital Learning: a fresh approach to history education, designed for a digital generation. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, and the Qatar Research & Development Council, and developed in partnership with Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development, the series combines mobile entertainment technology with the power of narrative design, bringing the pages of history to life.
History, experienced as an adventure. Instead of memorizing dates, learners step into the lives of people who faced the wicked problems of their eras, from the trade routes of the early modern world to the upheavals of revolution and industrialization. Each installment is a fully produced interactive experience built around character, choice, and consequence, and every one of them is free to use in any setting.
Empires & Interconnections (1450-1750)
Interactive stories of global connection, imperialism, and cultural clash and exchange across the early modern world. Named Best Literacy Platform at the 2024 Anthem Awards.
Available as an Apple Books Interactive edition and as iPad and Android tablet apps.
Revolutions & Industrialization (1750-1900)
A cross-platform experience exploring the human impact of global revolution and industrialization, told through the lives of characters living at history's hinge points. Gold winner, Mobile Apps for Education, at the Horizon Interactive Awards.
Available free on: Apple Books Interactive and Chromebook Web App
Plague of Athens | Virtual Reality (2023, 2024)
An immersive VR learning experience that achieves a striking verisimilitude of living through one of history's great pandemics, confronting players with the ethical dilemmas of ancient Athens in 429 BCE.
Available for Meta Quest, Steam VR, and Pico.
Bronze Medal winner, 2024 Reimagine Education Awards.
Black Death Interactive (2024, 2025)
"Forty Days" tells the story of Giana, a baker's daughter in Venice during the Black Death, facing the era's most common and cruel dilemma: flee to safety or stay and care for her sick father. A narrative-driven learning experience available for iPad and as a responsive web app.
Best of Category winner at the 2024 Horizon Interactive Awards.
Plague of Athens | Chromebook (2022)
A browser-based digital learning experience built for classroom Chromebooks, following Nikos, a physician during the Plague of Athens, through cutting-edge web animation and interactive storytelling.
Anthem Award Bronze Medalist.
Available for desktop Chrome Browser.
Generation Revolution (in development)
A special edition of History Adventures immersing students and museum visitors in the world of revolutionary New York, 1770-1800, featuring diverse perspectives on America's founding era.
Live web app demo available now.
Recognition (selections)
2024 Anthem Awards, Best Literacy Platform: Empires & Interconnections
2022 Inaugural Anthem Awards, Silver Medal: History Adventures
Reimagine Education Awards, Winner, Best EdTech Innovation in the Middle East: History Adventures
2023 dotCOMM Awards, Platinum Winner: Empires & Interconnections
2023 Viddy Awards, Gold Winner, Best Trailer: Empires & Interconnections
2020 and 2019 Horizon Interactive Awards, Gold, Mobile Apps for Education: Empires & Interconnections; Revolutions & Industrialization
Funding
History Adventures is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (Digital Projects for the Public) and developed in partnership with Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development, where the series has been rigorously tested with learners. Across the series installments, the work has drawn competitive support from the National Science Foundation, the Qatar National Research Fund, the Doha Film Institute, the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South, QRDI’s Undergraduate Research Experience Program, and Northwestern's Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO).
Press (selections)
In his own words: Digitally dusting off the pages of history, Qatar Foundation, Feb 2, 2021
NU-Q Faculty Win Silver Medal at Anthem Awards, Qatar Tribune, March 2, 2022
Meet IBHA Member, Spencer Striker, PhD, with Jahnavi Pandya, International Big History Association, February 12, 2021
Spencer Striker, PhD, on Turning History into Entertainment, Script Magazine, May 7, 2020
Looking for the Best Way to Learn History? Literature Approved, May 19, 2020
Learning History Through Living It: Northwestern Professor Employs VR in Education, The Peninsula, November 24, 2024
Back to the Future of Education, Center for Talent Development, Ed Finkel, May 23, 2023
The British Colonization of Botany Bay - History Adventure spotlight, History is Now Magazine, June 28, 2020
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