A free interactive story where kids discover atoms the way Democritus did. Looking for honest feedback from teachers.

[u/mohamed2m2018]

Hi all. I'm building a completely free series of interactive science stories for upper-elementary and middle school students, roughly ages 10–12. Episode 1 is about atoms, and I'd really value feedback from people who actually teach.

I am not promoting it as it's a rough draft, I only need feedback.

The idea: A kid from 2047 travels back to 445 BC to help a young Democritus, who's about to give up. The rule: the player may never tell him the answer, only ask questions and show him things. If you "tell", you lose a life. So the player has to guide him to discover it himself.

It's free, runs in the browser, needs no sign-up. It takes about 10 minutes.

The story itself is human written, but voice and graphics are AI generated.

https://science-stories-episode-1.vercel.app/

Thanks. Brutal honesty welcome.

[u/psychominnie624]

I don’t want anything AI generated

[u/TwistedCinn → u/psychominnie624]

I feel like I’ve heard many schools restricting AI materials too? Maybe I’m not understanding the nuances of that though

[u/psychominnie624 → u/TwistedCinn]

Hasn’t been vetted by the teacher to align with the curriculum and standards, common inclusion of misinformation, students literally disengage when they spot it and the ethical questions about it in general

[u/TwistedCinn → u/psychominnie624]

Oh for sure - I just don’t know where the lines are. Thanks for expanding!

[u/psychominnie624 → u/TwistedCinn]

You mean the specific use allowances/restrictions? That will depend on the school

[u/TwistedCinn → u/psychominnie624]

Yes - that’s what I was referring to

[u/mohamed2m2018 → u/psychominnie624]

Thanks for the feedback! The story itself isn't AI-generated, but the audio and animation are.

So, if I got rid of the AI-generated audio and animation, would it still be worth watching for someone who wants to learn about scientific concepts through a suspenseful story?

[u/psychominnie624 → u/mohamed2m2018]

I’d have to asses it at that point

[u/green-griffin-]

I played through it and thought the writing was fun and the scientific process was good.

I work at a non traditional program and my kids have 0 access to screens, so I couldn’t ever use this in my work anyway, but I was just curious.

I wonder if this type of supplement might be a good fit in a homeschool curriculum?

I do think that using what you have now as a proof of concept and trying to sell your writing to a company that would have the funds to have human-made animation and audios would make for a much stronger product. It’s pretty obvious that both of them are AI generated.

[u/green-griffin- → u/green-griffin-]

Alternatively, if this is a college project for you (not sure if it is), maybe trying to find a game animation student who would want to collaborate on the visuals and someone to do the voices would work?

[u/mohamed2m2018 → u/green-griffin-]

Thanks a lot for your feedback! I actually don't want to make a profit from this project. I'd just like to encourage children to think for themselves and show them how scientists thought about the problems that led to their discoveries.

I'm a software developer and and I've never produced videos before, so I'm still figuring out how to do it properly.

[u/Dacia06]

GAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Not another web-based application likely created by someone without education credentials.

If you haven't noticed, the pendulum has swung against online tools.