The long-term goal of this project is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate a multimedia nutrition software product that enables active participation in learning about nutrition for 9 to 12 year-olds. User manipulated computer simulations will be employed as tools to improve age appropriate nutritional knowledge, behavior, and application of food choice skills. The simulations will portray a Martian colony using 3-D animation, music, and sound effects. Four simulations - a cafeteria, sports teams, exploration, and malnourishment - are envisioned. We will conduct two levels of evaluation; process measures during product development, and outcomes assessment in a randomized trial of the intervention. We will measure pre- to post-treatment changes in: 1) knowledge about the Nutrition Facts food label, and the cancer and heart disease risks associated with total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and dietary fiber; 2) application of Nutrition Facts food labels to behavioral choices, including eating fresh fruits and vegetables daily, and decrease in daily intake of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and dietary fiber, and; 3) demonstration of skills on nutritional planning for oneself and others. A build-in Web link to allow users to access more nutrition information, download nutritional information on new food products, and communicate with other users and experts.
The National Health Museum in Washington, D.C. will make our software available for sale in their store and internationally distributed catalogues (see letter in Appendix A). Points of use are the recreation and school software markets. Driven by increasing PC penetration rates and growing consumer spending, the market for interactive entertainment will reach $11.6 billion in 2001, a 112.9% increase over the $5.5 billion spent in '97. Sales of electronic instructional materials will exceed $1 billion in school-only sales by 1999.
