California mission project

The popularity of the project has declined due to scrutiny on what the assignment teaches students about the treatment of indigenous Californians in the California Spanish missions.

Students are assigned one of the 21 Spanish missions in California and have to build a diorama out of common household objects such as popsicle sticks, sugar cubes, papier-mâché, and cardboard.

[5] Approximately 62,000 indigenous Californians died from a combination of disease and severe mistreatment by the time the missions ceased operation in 1833.

[4] Many textbooks and educational resources throughout history glossed over the mistreatment of Indigenous Californians in the missions and glorified the actions of the Spanish due to being aimed towards children.

[4][7] "Building missions from sugar cubes or popsicle sticks does not help students understand the period and is offensive to many.

[6][8] This is one of the many changes made by the California History-Social Science Project (CHSSP), the creators of the framework, that seeks to teach the history of Indigenous Californians in a more historic and comprehensive way.