Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Game Selection
Title of Game: Mission US
Description: Mission US engages students in the study of monumental moments in
American history. Each mission consists of an interactive game and a set of curriculum
materials that are aligned to standards and feature document-based activities. The game
immerses players in rich, historical settings and then empowers them to make choices
that replicate how ordinary people lived in the past. The Educator's Guide provides
resources and activities for both teachers and students, including primary source
documents that show the deeper social, political, and economic context of events and
perspectives featured in the game.
Game Integration
Title of the lesson: For Crown or Colony
Subject: Social Studies
Grade level : 4th grade gifted learners
Learning Objectives:
Change: People in the colonies changed from taking pride in their relation to the mothercountry and their place in the British Empire to wanting their independence and Revolution
Change : Revolution was the result of a social movement ordinary people like printers,
apprentices and women who expressed their anger at British control through different
kinds of protest -- printing newspapers, boycotts, making homespun, tarring and
feathering British officials.
Perspective: People had different viewpoints on British authority, on the Patriot movement,
and on the Boston Massacre.
Patriot vs. Loyalist arguments: (1) The fairness & justice of British authority vs.
colonial self-rule; (2) The increasing violence on both sides
Peoples politics were influenced by their economic interests, social ties, and
temperament.
People joined the Patriot movement for different reasons and disagreed about the
methods for protesting the Crown
Cause and effect: Historical events have more than one cause. Parliaments tax policies,
the presence of British soldiers in Boston, and colonial protests were all factors in the
Boston Massacre.
Standards:
SS4H3 The student will explain the factors that shaped British colonial America.
a. Compare and contrast life in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern colonies.
b. Describe colonial life in America as experienced by various people, including large
landowners, farmers, artisans, women, indentured servants, slaves, and Native American.
SS4G2 The student will describe how physical systems affect human systems.
c. Explain how the physical geography of the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern
colonies helped determine economic activities practiced therein.
SS4E1 The student will use the basic economic concepts of trade, opportunity cost,
specialization, voluntary exchange, productivity, and price incentives to illustrate historical
events.
b. Explain how price incentives affect peoples behavior and choices (such as colonial
decisions about what crops to grow and products to produce).
c. Describe how specialization improves standards of living (such as the differences in the
economies in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern colonies.)
d. Explain how voluntary exchange helps both buyers and sellers (such as prehistoric and
colonial trade in North America).
Duration: While it takes approximately 90 minutes to play the game from start to finish,
I will be using the game as the context for the learning in the classroom. I have seven 45
minute lessons planned.
Game integration: Mission US: For Crown or Colony will serve as the basis for all
curriculum used to teach these standards. Each day students will play a portion of the
game while also completing complementary activities such as vocabulary development,
examining primary source documents, or participate in a class discussion. Assessment of
the standards will also take place in the context of the game.
Procedures:
Day 1:
Classroom Activity:
Introduce the game to students. Students play the prologue section of For Crown or
Colony.
Explore the scenario: Was The Principal of Empire Middle School Fair and Right? (Exploring
Point of View)
Vocabulary:
Apprentice
Journeyman
Master
Indenture
Contract
Printer
Concepts addressed:
Economic life and labor systems in the British American colonies:
Limitations on land for inheritance by farmers sons;
Apprentice, journeymen, and master artisans;
Indentured labor
Day 2:
Classroom Activity:
Translate the Liberty Song from Old English Language to 2016 Language
Vocabulary:
Redcoat
Artisan
Freedman
Slave
Slavery
Patriot
Loyalist
Merchant
Nat begins his apprenticeship with Mr. Edes. His first job is to sell at least three ads for
the Gazette and pick up a shipment of type from Griffins Wharf. He may meet a variety of
people around town, the historical figures Paul Revere and Phillis Wheatley.
Concepts Addressed
Day 3
Classroom Activity:
Import
Homespun
Export
Taxes
Boycott
Protest
Effigy
Townshend Acts
Mrs. Edes sends Nat out to buy supplies for her upcoming spinning bee, with instructions
to be careful where he shops (if pressed, she will tell Nat to shop from Patriot shops who
sell domestic goods). In town, Nat learns of protests against merchants who have been
importing goods from England. Nat has the option to buy goods from importers or nonimporters.
Later that day, he hears that an eleven-year-old boy names Christopher Seider was shot
during an altercation between protestors and a customs informer. Back at the print shop
that night, Nat overhears a meeting of the Sons of Liberty in which plans are made for a
protest.
Concepts Addressed:
Day 4:
Classroom Activity:
Key Vocabulary:
Redcoats
Massacre
Musket
Out on an errand, Nat runs into Constance Lillie, who is searching for her dog Thimble.
They spot Thimble and chase him down an alley, which leads them directly into a chaotic
confrontation between a crowd of angry townspeople and Redcoats. Nat and Constance
witness the events that later come to be known as the Boston Massacre.
Concepts Addressed:
Day 5
Classroom Activity:
Massacre
Witness
Deposition
Patriot
Loyalist
Nat is called to Faneuil Hall to give a deposition about what he witnessed the night before
at the Customs House. Before giving his testimony, he speaks briefly with Constance,
Royce, and Solomon, who give their perspectives on the Massacre. After his deposition,
Nat is given three paths to choose from. He must pick one and prove that he
understands the perspective that path represents whether it is staying in Boston and
becoming a patriot printer; going to New with his Loyalist uncle; or sailing to sea with his
new fellow apprentice and leaving the political tensions of Boston behind.
Evaluation: The students will be evaluated on a performance task in which they must
write about which of the three paths they would have chosen had they been Nat. They will
then uses their writing and that perspective as they participate in a classroom debate.
Support Needs: The support access for this game is excellent. Students can easily get
answers to questions they have in the game platform.
choose your own adventure games, I do feel like the end result should be differentiated by
the path you chose. The summary shows the American Revolution and its aftermath, but I
feel it should show what the characters life would be like based upon their choices.
Overall reflection:
I look forward to implementing this plan with my students. Engagement is at an all time
high when do any type of simulation activity. Mission US Crown or Colony provides this
experience while teaching Social Studies standards and critical thinking skills.