Part of an occasional series of case studies on the way in which history organizations are reaching out to new audiences.  Contact us to suggest or submit a case study.

Title: "A Sailor's Life for Me" online game with educational curriculum and a free iPad app from the USS Constitution Museum in recognition of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812

Description: In this award-winning online game and educational curriculum, “A Sailor’s Life for Me!”  users explore the ship, scrub the decks, and fire cannons.  Meeting real sailors who served on “Old Ironsides” in 1812 compels users to not just learn history, but experience and explore it.  The educational curriculum links directly from the game and includes 120 printable lesson plans and activities for the classroom or home that utilize history, science, math, social studies, art and language arts to explore Constitution and life at sea in 1812. 

Objective: Teach the War of 1812 through the lens of USS Constitution and make this history available to all.

Research and development: The staff of the museum spent more than ten years researching the 1812 crew of Constitution.   Stephen Biesty did the illustrations.  Eduweb did the interactive development.

Funding: The Office of Navy Commemorations and the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Results (with stats through March 15, 2012):

Since its launch in January 2011, the website has had 35,830 visits from 23,345 unique visitors who generated 99,578 page views.

The free iPad app, released in February 2012, has been downloaded 879 times from 59 countries.

Institution: The USS Constitution Museum site and the organization and their events on The History List

For more information, contact Jodie McMenamin, Development Officer at the USS Constitution Museum

Case study date: June 26, 2012

To suggest or submit a case study, contact us.