It’s the Harlem Renaissance…
Florence Mills, a groundbreaking cabaret singer, rose to international fame but was tragically forgotten by history. Now, step into her world and experience her journey like never before.
Meet "Tiny" Davis, a trailblazing trumpet virtuoso, and follow her adventures with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm as they defied expectations across midwestern America. Their voices—and their stories—are finally ready to be heard.
Type of Project:
YA Education + Augmented Reality + Social Change
My Roles: Narrative Designer, Puzzle designer
What is Unsung?
UNSUNG is a multiplayer augmented reality learning experience about 2 Black singers: Florence Mills and Tiny Davis, who rose above societal challenges to make their voices heard.
UNSUNG takes a gamified approach to learning. It invites students to collaboratively explore immersive environments from history. Students will be able to read passages specific to each environment, fill in blanks in the text based on what they learn and find important historical artifacts along with primary source documents to analyze.
Animations, rich narrations, and a flexible lesson planning guide come together to give students a wholly unique way to meet …and appreciate… two singers who deserve to their stories remembered for all time.
How does Unsung work in the classroom?
The interactive AR experience consists of 8 virtual scenes (four for each figure) that students can explore. These scenes represent important moments in the figures’ lives. Students can use their tablets or other Android/iOS device to look around the scene, talk to characters, and read information about the setting and its people. Each scene is designed to take one 45 minute class period to complete.
Every scene starts off with a challenge to each student to find a primary source artifact. To do so, they need to explore the environment and talk with the characters. Once they have discovered all the information necessary to move forward, they will be asked to fill in the missing blanks from the passage. After each student completes their task, they will then analyze a primary source document as a group, and answer a final Check for Understanding (CFU).
Sponsored by
How can I access Unsung?
UNSUNG is available through the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools Program (VILS). They have a platform where teachers can sign up and get access to UNSUNG, along with many other AR + VR experiences for the classroom.
