Great explanations and hands on demos.

In addition to accurate content and engaging interactive tools for sampling water clarity and chemistry, students enjoyed interacting with the different characters in the various locations along the lake shore. The dialogue was a bit wordy and the quaint puns were a bit complicated for my 3rd grade students, but I think this would not be an issue with older English-dominant students. I found that the navigation was a bit slow, and after 1 1/2 hours of playing around with Citizen Science, my character disappeared and I was unable to continue. I have had some students lose their work, and they completed the activities described above based on what they were able to complete. I think this is worthwhile, but there are a few bugs. I wouldn't recommend it for ESL students unless they were paired up with a strong English-speaker, nor would I recommend it for reluctant readers. Additionally, it's good to play through it yourself first so you know how to keep students from simply wandering around aimlessly looking for the next piece of evidence.

Citizen Science is a neat way to show pollution dangers as well as the danger of introducing another species into a waterway, but it was lost on the students because of the jumping around from character to character. The character also time traveled which was lost on most students. I like the reading aspect of the conversation rather than the students just listening. However, the LARGE reading component made it difficult for the learning support and ELL students to maintain interest. Support was given to those students but it was still difficult to get them engaged.

I could continue use this product as a teaching tool for all stages of ecological understanding in my students and a great differentiation tool to help those push their understanding, and support those that are not as savy with the politics.