How to run The Mission Decision as Problem-Based Learning: your role, the pre-planning maps, pacing, role cards, sources, and debrief prompts. The golden rule — guide, don't tell. In PBL the students should feel they, not you, planned the investigation.
Your role by phase
Phase
What you do
What you resist
① Surface
Teach vocabulary and facts efficiently; run the jigsaw; check acquisition.
Rushing to the problem before facts are secure.
② Deep
Facilitate the site-factors concept map and source routine; model claim + evidence.
Giving your own interpretation of the sources.
③ Transfer
Read the problem well; hold the KWHL chart; answer questions with questions; point to sources.
Answering the “Need to know” questions yourself.
Running the jigsaw (Phase 1)
The Surface phase uses a four-topic jigsaw (Spanish Texas, early 1700s) — a high-leverage move (d ≈ 0.92) because every student must teach. The flow: expert groups each study one topic and take notes → students re-mix into home groups with one expert per topic → each expert teaches → an individual check for understanding holds everyone accountable.
The per-expert-group source links live on the Surface page, one set per topic. Confirm access through your district before class.
Pre-planning · Map of Possibilities
Before teaching, brainstorm every direction the mission-siting problem could branch — so you can steer discussion and decide, in advance, which threads are productive and which are too sensitive or off-topic for your class and community.
Center: Where should the 1718 mission stand? Branches: water & rivers · farmland & soil · defense & the presidio · trade routes · the Caddo & Coahuiltecan peoples & their wishes · rivals (France) · faith & the friars · whether to build at all. Mark threads you will encourage and any you will redirect (keep it professional and age-appropriate — relevant, not inflammatory).
A note on portraying American Indian peoples
🪶 The Caddo, Coahuiltecan, and other nations were peoples with their own governments, economies, and homelands — not background. Portray them respectfully and as decision-makers with their own interests: a mission could only stand where the people of the land allowed it. In the debrief, name honestly that Spanish settlement brought disease and lasting loss of land and ways of life. Keep it factual and age-appropriate; center the decision on water, land, defense, trade, and relationships.
Pre-planning · Curriculum Map (problem → TEKS)
If students investigate…
They are working toward…
the ways of life & organization of American Indian peoples in Texas
§113.15(c)(1)(B–D), (c)(9)(A), (c)(12)(A)
why Spain explored & settled; where & why missions were built
§113.15(c)(2)(A–C)
physical regions, rivers & how geography shaped settlement
§113.15(c)(6)(A–B), (c)(7)(A–B)
adapting to & modifying the environment
§113.15(c)(8)(A–C)
using and questioning sources; points of view; claim + evidence
§113.15(c)(19)(A–B)
defining the problem, weighing options, choosing & evaluating a solution
§113.15(c)(22)(B)
Suggested pacing (5–8 class periods)
Period 1: Surface — vocabulary sort + jigsaw.
Period 2: Surface map work → Deep site-factors concept map.
Period 3: Deep — primary/secondary sources + warm-up argument.
Period 4: Transfer — Meet the Problem, roles, Hunches/Know/Need-to-Know.
Periods 5–6: Transfer — inquiry & investigation.
Periods 7–8: Transfer — build, present, and debrief the 8-part brief.
Facilitation prompts (keep these handy)
“What in the story makes you say that?”
“Where could we find that out? Which source?”
“How do you know — is that a fact or a guess?”
“Whose point of view are we missing — did we ask the people already living there?”
“What are the advantages and disadvantages of that site?”
“How would you know if your solution actually worked?”
Suggested public-domain / vetted sources
Confirm access through your district's approved catalog before class. Vetted, free starting points:
⚠️ Keep sources grade-appropriate and community-appropriate. This unit studies mission-building as history and as a problem-solving process — relevant and respectful, never inflammatory. Students' outside research should use tools your district already vets.