Up from the Dust

Face the challenges of the Great Depression as teenage twins from rural Texas

Step into the shoes of Ginny and Frank Dunn, fictional 13-year-old twins in 1930s Texas. Prospects for survival on your family wheat farm are grim. How will you weather the impending devastation of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl? As Frank, you can ride the rails around the country in search of work and adventure. As Ginny, you can help others find aid and work through New Deal programs, and travel west to assist famed photographer Dorothea Lange. Alternating between Frank and Ginny’s viewpoints, you will meet people from many different walks of life, experiencing and overcoming the daunting challenges many Americans faced in these hard times.

Winner of a Parents' Choice Gold Award, “Up from the Dust” is part of the acclaimed MISSION US interactive series that immerses young people in the drama of American history. Used by more than four million students to date, multiple research studies show that using Mission US improves historical knowledge and skills, leads to deeper student engagement, and promotes richer classroom discussion.

GAME FEATURES:

• Play alternates between two main characters

• Innovative choice-driven story with over 20 possible endings and badge system

• Includes interactive prologue, 5 playable parts, and epilogue - approx. 2-2.5 hours of gameplay, segmented for flexible implementation

• Diverse cast of characters features a range of perspectives on the Great Depression

• Farm minigame simulates boom and bust cycle and impact of drought and Depression on local farmers

• New Deal minigame focuses on government programs that helped ordinary Americans

• Primary source documents and historic photographs are integrated into game design

• Collection of free classroom support resources available at mission-us.org includes document-based questions, classroom activities, vocabulary builders, standards alignments, writing/discussion prompts and more.

ABOUT MISSION US:

• AWARDS include: Games for Change Award for Most Significant Impact, multiple Japan Prize, Parents’ Choice Gold, Common Sense Media ON for Learning, and International Serious Play awards, and Webby and Daytime Emmy nominations.

• CRITICAL ACCLAIM: USA Today: “a powerful game that all kids should experience”; Educational Freeware: “one of the most captivating educational games online”; Kotaku: “a slice of livable history that every American should play”; 5 out of 5 stars from Common Sense Media

• GROWING FAN BASE: 4 million registered users across the US and around the world to date, including 130,000 teachers.

• PROVEN IMPACT: Major study by Education Development Center (EDC) found students who used MISSION US significantly outperformed those who studied the same topics using typical materials (textbook and lecture) – showing a 14.9% knowledge gain versus less than 1% for the other group.

• TRUSTED TEAM: Produced by The WNET Group (NY’s flagship PBS station) in partnership with educational game development company Electric Funstuff and the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, City University of New York