Teaching resources
Please feel free to use, modify and share the below resources but please acknowledge authorship.
Planning Template
Steam Guide
The below link takes you to a Google Doc and PDF version of the planning template. Please feel free to modify, share, and distribute within your school/faculty but please acknowledge authorship.
Some of the games identified below are available to play via Steam download. Depending on your school context, you may encounter technological and administrative issues. The guide below has been created to aid in overcoming these barriers.
Secondary
Social Sciences
Never Alone
Geography Year 7
Never Alone is an atmospheric puzzle-platformer that brings to life the traditional stories and cultural knowledge of Alaska's Iñupiat people. Developed in collaboration with the Iñupiat community and the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, the game represents one of the first examples of "world games" - titles that authentically share Indigenous culture through interactive storytelling.
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The game was created in conjunction with the Cook Inlet Tribal Council and engaged with over 40 Elders from the community.
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Students will be engaging in gameplay to develop an understanding of Iñupiat people’s knowledge systems. Inquiry-based learning will be the foundation for the gameplay and then the following research task. In pairs, students will design their own inquiry research scaffold to answer the question below:
Key inquiry question: Explain how people can learn about Country through Indigenous made texts.
Access the game on Steam:
When Rivers Were Trails
HSC Aboriginal Studies
What if students could experience history from an Indigenous perspective - not as observers, but as decision-makers navigating survival, resistance, and sovereignty? This five-lesson mini-unit centres the educational video game When Rivers Were Trails, where students take on the role of an Anishinaabeg person displaced from Minnesota to California during the 1890s land allotment era. Through gameplay, academic analysis, and the LANDS Framework for comparative study, students develop sophisticated understanding of settler colonialism across contexts while comparing Anishinaabeg and Aboriginal Australian experiences. The unit builds critical analysis skills aligned with NSW Aboriginal Studies Preliminary Course Part III outcomes.
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When Rivers Were Trails (2019) is an award-winning educational video game developed through collaboration between the Indian Land Tenure Foundation and Michigan State University's Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab, with support from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Uniquely, the game was created by over 30 Indigenous writers, artists, and musicians who maintained creative control throughout development, making it a "sovereign game" where Indigenous voices had final decision-making power. Players take on the role of an Anishinaabe person displaced from Minnesota during the 1890s land allotment era, making choices about survival, resistance, and cultural preservation while navigating encounters with Indian Agents, other Indigenous nations, and the devastating impacts of forced displacement. The game represents the most comprehensive Indigenous representation in any video game to date and serves as a powerful counter-narrative to colonial games like The Oregon Trail.
Access the game on Steam:
Hundred Days
Geography VCE
Hundred Days game is a simulation game that provides insight into the production of wine – from soil composition and vine selection, to seasonal and environmental impacts – all of which determine the body, acidity, tannins and sweetness of the wine. Players are required to consider yield quantities, irrigation, farming practices, and terracing landscapes when developing a variety of red and white wines.
The Geography VCE course provides opportunities for students to discover local landscapes; how the land has been changed and how the use of the land has changed in Unit 3: Changing the Land. Victoria is host to many world-renown wine regions, with Shiraz Central encompassing Bendigo and Ballarat, the Pinot Coast from Geelong to Lakes Entrance, and the Yarra Valley just an hour from Melbourne. Hundred Days provides the students the opportunity to engage with the processes involved in wine making, and when used in conjunction with mandatory fieldwork, allows students to gain a deeper understanding of Area of Study 1 and 2.
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Big Little Workshop
Year 9/10 Economics and Business
The game allows players to design, manage, and run their own factory. Players need to take into consideration operation management, finances, production layout, and human resources to ensure the success of their factory. As the game progresses, so too does the market, indicating the rise and fall of customer demand and material prices.
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Students will play the game to gain an in-depth understanding of business processes including the
implications of markets, finances, materials and personnel.
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Access the game on Steam:
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Year 9/10 History
Valiant Hearts: The Great War navigates players through an emotive narrative which explores the lives of five characters during World War 1. Using a comic book inspired art style, it traverses the devastation of war without the gruesome visual realism that can be found in documentaries and photographs.
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The following four lessons provide students with the opportunity to understand the social, economic, and political implications of war. Using a Jigsaw activity, student groups are to engage in gameplay where the become the experts in the events, technology and warfare, perspectives (characters), objects (found within the game and provide detail on lived experiences, and locations of World War 1. Groups will then present their area of expertise and, using this information, students will go on to answer the following investigate question:
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"How does Valiant Hearts represent the lived experience of WWI, and what can we learn about the war from multiple perspectives, and what does this reveal about the experiences of nations involved in the conflict, including Australia?"
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Access the game on Steam:
Secondary
English
Five Nights at Freddy's
Year 9/10 English: A genre study
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a point and click game that utilises horror elements without the use of violence, blood, or gore. Players are hired as an overnight security guard at a pizza parlour which prides itself as being a family-friendly establishment. During the nightshift, players must switch between security cameras and the office ensuring that the animatronics remain where they are.
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The following two lessons provide students with the opportunity to engage with Five Nights at Freddy’s and experience first-hand the impact of cinematic horror. During game play, students are to take notes about the horror elements, and then create a video to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the game.
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But You Seem Fine
Year 10 English: Branching Narratives
But You Seem Fine is an interactive narrative that is based on one of the game developer’s struggles with invisible illness. Step into the shoes of 14-year-old Rae Kim, who becomes sick with a mysterious illness, and follow her journey as she and her mom search for answers.
Get to know Rae while you make decisions that determine her story, with five different endings. Explore relationships with other characters as she faces the struggles of adolescence and illness.
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Students will play the game in pairs, map their choices, and develop an understanding of how texts, such as video games, can generate emotions such as empathy within their audience. After critically analysing game mechanics, character development, sound, and imagery, students will then go on to create their own interactive narrative, using purposely selected techniques to convey an emotion of their choice. Students will write a developer’s log (Devlog) to reflect on their processes during the game’s production.
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Secondary
Physics
Schrodinger's Cat Burglar
Year 12 Physics
These two lessons use Schrodinger's Cat Burglar to introduce Year 12 students to quantum physics concepts in VCE Physics Unit 4, Area of Study 1.
Students control Mittens, a cat existing in quantum superposition, experiencing firsthand how observation collapses quantum systems - the core mechanic directly models the double-slit experiment.
The game addresses the syllabus requirement to "interpret the single photon and the electron double slit experiment as evidence for the dual nature of light and matter" (VCE Physics Study Design, 2023, p. 58).
When unobserved, Mittens exists in superposition; when observed by cameras, one state becomes 'theoretical' - exactly mirroring quantum behaviour.
By experiencing these counterintuitive principles through gameplay before encountering mathematical formulations, students develop conceptual anchors for abstract theory.
This engaging hook reduces anxiety about quantum physics whilst building intuitive understanding of how "light and matter, which initially seem to be quite different, on very small scales have been observed as having similar properties" (VCE Physics Study Design, 2023, p. 56).
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Access the game on Steam:
Primary
Physical Development
PHOGS!
Grade 3/4
PHOGS! is a two-player game that requires players to work in a team to move around the screen and solve problems. Players are linked via a stretchy belly and need to push, pull, and find objects to progress.
The game play area is small with easy to identify progression points. With minimal and easy to read text, this game is suitable for year 3 onwards. Although total time play can last up to 9 hours, one session will allow players enough time to engage in collaboration and problem-solving skills.
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Access the game on Steam:
Primary
Maths
Peggy's Post
Grade 5/6
Peggy's Post is a resource management game where players take on the role of a post office worker who has inherited a postal service - along with its debt. Over seven in-game days, players must weigh parcels, calculate delivery costs, plan routes, and manage limited resources such as stamps and boat space to earn enough money to pay off what is owed.
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Students will play the game in pairs across two rounds, tracking their financial decisions and mathematical strategies using a recording worksheet. After the first round, students will reflect on their choices, identify mathematical patterns, and develop an improved strategy for the second attempt. Through comparing their two attempts, students will analyse how mathematical thinking, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, spatial reasoning, and data interpretation, supporting real-world problem-solving and decision-making.
