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On the page of product concepts that we'd sent to George Lucas for review, he'd circled the words "ecosystems and food chains." This began the conversation that eventually led to the development of Star Wars: The Gungan Frontier. It was George Lucas' belief that if we could use the computer to help young people understand the dynamic and interconnected relationship of living things, we would "create the best game ever."

We believe that hands-on learning with real organisms in real ecosystems is still the best way to learn ecology. It is important to consider what the computer will contribute to students' understanding of their environment. Our cue came from scientists who use computer models to better understand changes in an ecosystem over time. The Gungan Frontier encourages kids to practice scientific investigation by setting up an ecosystem and observing the effects of their decisions over time.

As we worked with the prototype, graphs generated by the simulation began to show phenomena that we at first believed were "mistakes." However, when we checked with scientists and scientific references, we learned that these were not mistakes at all! Instead, they were demonstrating "counterintuitive" scientific principles. In other words, they were helping us understand a principle of population biology that runs contrary to normal expectations.

The fantastic and imaginative Star Wars plants and animals have "real" animal properties related to food, offspring, habitat, and range assigned to them. Though not in an earth environment, the behavior of these organisms simulates population dynamics in a complex earth ecosystem. The simulation makes it possible for students to explore some of the very same questions that are faced by policy makers and scientists.

The Gungan Frontier allows tracking of individual plants or animals. Students are encouraged to use an interactive food web, graphs, and a glossary to explain the scientific concepts that are embedded in the game. It was not feasible to add every dimension of an earth ecosystem, such as weather, changing seasons, or night and day, but students can experiment with many elements of a rich and dynamic ecosystem.

There is still much to understand about how learning in a computer environment transfers to the real world. Yet, again and again users who tested the product made comments that suggested an understanding of the science involved. Recognizing that one change in an ecosystem affects everything else is a powerful idea and should transfer beyond the imaginative world of The Gungan Frontier.