Mission US, The WNET Group’s award-winning educational media project that immerses young people in transformational moments from U.S. history, announces a new mission, “Spirit of a Nation.” This new mission, designed for use in middle and high school classrooms, will be available starting in early 2025.
The eighth installment of the free interactive series centers on the story of the Apalachee – an Indigenous people from northwestern Florida whose history illustrates the centuries-long process of conflict, adaptation, and cultural persistence that marked the encounters between Indigenous and European people.
In “Spirit of a Nation” students develop knowledge about how American Indigenous communities persisted and adapted during early encounters with Europeans, and of how this past is researched, interpreted, and remembered. Despite its unfamiliarity to most Americans, the Apalachee story, as illuminated by new scholarship, offers a compelling and complex perspective on Indigenous, as well as Spanish, experiences in North America.
The mission includes an introduction, three approximately 20-minute interactive role-playing lessons, and a conclusion. The mission is supported by questions, activities, and other material found in the accompanying educator guide. Each part of the mission features a current-day, fictional Talimali Nation youth narrator – descended from the Apalachee – who engages in an act of historical imagination during the 1500s and 1600s, sparked by the analysis of archaeological and historical evidence she encounters at Mission San Luis.
“I appreciate that this project will educate others on the history and culture of America’s Native people,” said Charissa Zenobia Bennett-Inabnet, one of the Apalachee advisors for the mission. “This project will be a vital tool which educators can use in order to lead their learners to discover more about Native Americans and early US history.”
“I was thoroughly impressed with the level of detail in the game and dedication to community input during its design,” said London Vallery, one of the Apalachee advisors for the mission. “It can be easy for some people to dismiss Indigenous beliefs as frivolous superstitions, but the Mission US team dedicated many meetings to unpacking how these beliefs and practices formed and why they were relevant to the environment of our homelands. I’m excited for students to be able to step foot into this world that is seldom shown and learn more about indigeneity as a beautiful world that was and will continue to be.”
To create “Spirit of a Nation,” the team worked closely with advisors from the Apalachee community, as well as historians and archaeologists with intimate knowledge of the history of the Apalachee and the Mission San Luis historic site. The team also assembled a cast of talented Indigenous voice talent for all of the Indigenous roles.
Research has shown that by assuming the roles of peers from the past, students playing Mission US develop a more personal, memorable, and meaningful connection with complex historical content and context. The Mission US website will include eight missions and newly updated educator guides that include curriculum overviews, implementation guides, mission reflection questions, and more. Additional missions cover: the Boston Massacre, Westward Expansion from the perspective of the Northern Cheyenne, immigration and the Progressive Era, the Great Depression, Japanese American incarceration during World War II, and the civil rights movement.
A free, self-paced interactive professional learning module, soon to be available on PBS LearningMedia, will support teachers in bringing Mission US into their classrooms in an intentional, supported, and responsive way. To date, Mission US has had more than 5 million registered users, including more than 140,000 teachers across all 50 states and around the world.
Mission US is produced by The WNET Group. The team includes historians at the American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning at CUNY; researchers from Tally Creative Consulting; and game developer Electric Funstuff. For The WNET Group: Sandra Sheppard is executive producer and director for kids’ media and education at The WNET Group. Jill Peters is executive producer. Michelle Chen is senior producer.
“Spirit of a Nation” is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities with additional support from The Page and Otto Marx, Jr., Foundation and Kitty Hawks. Funding for Mission US is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences; U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program; Janet Prindle Seidler; The Page & Otto Marx, Jr. Foundation; Estate of Dr. Bhagwant Gill; Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III; Atran Foundation; Tamara L. Harris Foundation; Helena Rubinstein Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; and Canary Academy Online Inc.
The American Consortium for Equity in Education, publisher of the "Equity & Access" journal, celebrates and connects the educators, associations, community partners and industry leaders who are working to solve problems and create a more equitable environment for historically underserved pre K-12 students throughout the United States.
- American Consortium for Equity in Educationhttps://ace-ed.org/author/admin/
- American Consortium for Equity in Educationhttps://ace-ed.org/author/admin/
- American Consortium for Equity in Educationhttps://ace-ed.org/author/admin/
- American Consortium for Equity in Educationhttps://ace-ed.org/author/admin/
