[Bridging_the_digital_divide] educating with video games

[bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net]

Kids, Play With Your Food 
Associated Press

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,64593,00.html

11:48 AM Aug. 15, 2004 PT

WASHINGTON -- In an effort to educate the nation's neediest children on 
nutrition, a new project uses the familiar medium of video games to 
broadcast its message.

  The Fantastic Food Challenge, a package of four computer games, is 
designed to teach people who get nutrition aid such as federal food 
stamps how to make better use of their food. Because so many young 
adults played such games as kids, they ought to be able to learn more 
easily from them, too, said the project's director.

  "We wanted to create a game that didn't just feel like you were 
learning something," said Brian Winn, an assistant professor of 
telecommunication, information studies and media at Michigan State 
University in East Lansing.

  The player feels like a contestant in a marathon of futuristic 
television game shows that also happen to give instruction about how to 
buy food at the lowest cost, store it properly and prepare healthy 
meals, Winn said.

  One game is called Store It Safe. It involves placing baked beans, 
tortillas, frozen chicken and other virtual groceries into a 
cartoon-drawn freezer, cupboard or refrigerator.

  In another game, a version of Concentration, players turn over blank 
cards that flash a food and a menu item made with that ingredient, then 
try to remember which card had the milk that matches the macaroni and 
cheese. The on-screen opponent is a sore-loser robot that blows steam 
out of its ears when it guesses wrong, but which gets better as the 
game becomes more difficult.

  In the Great Meal Deal, players test their knowledge of the five food 
groups (milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and grains) by dragging randomly 
generated bananas, peanuts, applesauce and other items into the correct 
group.

  Players in the Price Makes Sense have to use their math skills to 
figure out the best food deal; for instance, that six servings of eggs 
at $1.20 is cheaper per serving than five servings of chicken at $2.00.

  The program is being distributed to employees in Michigan's extension 
offices who teach food aid recipients how to be efficient shoppers. So 
far, they seem to like it better than the usual brochures and charts, 
said Gayle Coleman, the extension service's interim state program 
leader for family consumer science.

  Food stamp users are not the only people who can benefit from these 
kinds of projects, said Melinda Johnson, a spokeswoman for the American 
Dietetic Association. But the poor may need the help more because they 
have fewer options, she said.

  For example, people in every income level have to squeeze healthy 
meals into busy lives, although those who are better off do not feel 
the budget pinch when they buy prepared meals at the supermarket, 
Johnson said.

  Researchers also have tried computer games to improve eating habits 
for about 1,600 fourth graders in Houston. They played a 
medieval-themed game called Squire's Quest, developed by researchers at 
Baylor College of Medicine's Children's Nutrition Research Center. Kids 
win by getting promoted from squire to knight. But the real goal is to 
get them to eat more fruits and vegetables.

  In the game, players advance by learning such things as how to talk a 
parent into serving orange juice for breakfast and they gain 
negotiation skills by accepting pineapple juice if that is available 
instead, said Tom Baranowski, lead scientist in the game's development.

  "We do role-playing to encourage the kid to go home and ask Mom," he 
said.

http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,64593,00.html
---

Jason Barkeloo
President
TouchSmart Publishing
http://www.touchsmart.net
t: 513.225.8765
f: 206.666.4856

This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted 
with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated 
recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the 
intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this 
e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the 
sender, and delete all copies immediately.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 4525 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040817/e6f7db4d/attachment-0001.bin