Professor to Producer of eBooks with Computer Games

A professor describes his experiences directing and producing a science fiction novel, in eBook format with computer games, featuring solar system science content, for sixth graders. The embedded computer games were designed to both move the plot forward and act as stealth assessments of comprehension and science content. The idea of this project emerged from a needs analysis of a 6th grade science teacher and science class from a private Christian school. The teacher suggested a strong need for better materials to teach highly spatial solar system content, including phases of the moon, eclipses, tilt of the earth relative to its orbit as the cause of seasons, etc. Our research group decided to create a novel that would be an exemplary piece of content, and an exemplar of web-based eBook with computer games to teach science and language arts content.