This is Problem-Based Learning. Students don't answer questions about Spanish Texas — they step inside the problem as stakeholders, and the teacher guides rather than tells. The whole phase runs the problem-solving process named in §113.15(c)(22)(B).
Read the narrative aloud. Read it once for the story, then again for details students will need.
First reaction (not answers yet): what did you notice? What do you wonder? Keep it open — the point is to pull students into the problem.
🏛️ What Spain actually did: the mission of San Antonio de Valero ↗ was founded in 1718 near the San Antonio River (§113.15(c)(2)(C)).
Assign or let students choose a stakeholder. Each will reason from that person's point of view. Every role has something real at stake — and the American Indian leader is a decision-maker, not background.
You want a place with water and farmland where you can build the mission and teach your faith — and where the people of the land will welcome you.
You must be able to defend the settlement with your soldiers. Which spot is safe from rivals and easy to protect?
You answer to Spain. You want to strengthen the claim to Texas and keep France out — but you can't afford a mission that fails.
This is your people's homeland. You decide whether to welcome the mission, on what terms, and what it means for your farms, hunting grounds, and way of life.
You need good soil and steady water to grow food. Where can families actually live and farm?
You know the paths where goods move. Which location keeps the settlement connected for trade?
Build three shared columns on chart paper. This defines the problem and plans the inquiry — the first moves of §113.15(c)(22)(B).
| 💭 Hunches | ✅ Know (from the text) | ❓ Need to know |
|---|---|---|
| Our guesses about the best place and whether it should be built at all. | Facts we can point to in the story (it's the early 1700s; Spain wants a mission and presidio; the Caddo and Coahuiltecan peoples already live here; a mission needs water, farmland, and defense). | Questions we must answer to advise well — Where is there good water and farmland? What do the American Indian peoples there want? Where can soldiers defend? What happened in real history? |
Turn “Need to know” into the H of KWHL: How will we find out? (which sources, whom to ask). Record it — this is the class's research plan.
Groups pursue their “Need to know” questions using vetted sources (see the facilitator guide for suggested public-domain sources). Students gather and use valid information, applying the source routine they practiced in Phase 2. Keep filling the Learned column of KWHL as answers come in.
Teacher-as-guide moves: answer a question with a question; point to a source, not the answer; ask “How do you know?” and “Whose view is missing?”
📚 Investigation sources: Handbook of Texas · Spanish Missions ↗ · Presidios ↗ · NPS · San Antonio Missions ↗ · Portal to Texas History ↗. Full list + how-to in the facilitator guide.
From their stakeholder's point of view, each group develops a recommendation for where — and whether — the mission should be built, and defends it with evidence. Assessment happens throughout the process, not only here (the reasoning is the point).
Groups present an 8-part problem/solution brief (poster, slides, or spoken):
Close the loop — the evaluate step of the problem-solving process. Discuss across roles so students hear how the same decision looked from every side.
Connect to today & to the standards: people still weigh water, land, cost, safety, and the wishes of the people already there when deciding where to build. Name the six steps students just used — that is §113.15(c)(22)(B).
🏛️ The lasting story: UNESCO · San Antonio Missions World Heritage Site ↗ · NPS · San Antonio Missions history ↗
Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.15; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX. This narrative is a teaching fiction based on the era.