This WPSU interactive The Detective’s Notebook Game is designed to get students to think about what they are reading and to answer questions that require inferencing. In the game the student has access to an amateur detective's notebook in which several clues or events have been observed. From these clues, some inference or prediction can be made. The game is part of Blue Ribbon Readers, a collection of games designed to help elementary school students learn to read.

Inferring is a process of creating meaning that is not explicitly stated within a text. Inferring helps students to grasp subtext, make predictions about future events, answer questions, and make judgments about what is being read. It is a useful skill in reading, and also in life.

Heather teaches in a rural elementary school in Pennsylvania, a school so small that there is only one class for each grade. When she implemented The Detective’s Notebook Game along with other games designed to support reading strategies, her students’ test scores increased. Heather likes the idea that she can assign games to students to target areas where they need more practice. While some students are playing the games on their computers, Heather is free to work one-on-one with a student, or with a small reading group. Blue Ribbon Readers is like having an extra pair of hands in the classroom.

Heather and other teachers know that sounding out words and decoding are the first steps in teaching children to read. Teaching reading comprehension, however, has been a difficult task for educators for decades. Before extensive literacy research conducted in the 1980s, there were few evidence-based approaches for teaching comprehension. Some approaches increased reading levels and test scores while others had little success. Literacy experts Susan Zimmermann and Chryse Hutchins offer 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It to help both teachers and parents employ successful approaches. Zimmermann and Hutchins contend that,

“Real comprehension has to do with thinking, learning, and expanding a reader’s knowledge and horizons. It has to do with building on past knowledge, mastering new information, connecting with the minds of those you’ve never met.” p. 7

WPSU used the Zimmermann Hutchins book as a guide to build Blue Ribbon Readers, believing that in addition to their successful approaches, practice is a crucial element. With the book as a foundation, WPSU worked with Penn State literacy faculty members and practicing classroom teachers, like Heather, to develop games like The Detective’s Notebook Game.

Skills practice can be tedious, and keeping children engaged long enough for them to build their skill base can be challenging. Thus, WPSU designed The Detective’s Notebook Game as part of the Blue Ribbon Readers collection, seven separate engaging games that correspond with the 7 keys to comprehension referenced above.

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