Virtual Sprouts: Web-based Gardening Games to Teach Nutrition and Combat Obesity
Condition: Obesity
MeSH terms: Obesity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to develop, disseminate, and evaluate a web-based nutrition and
      gardening game using interactive, multiplatform and mobile gaming, rich narrative, a
      pedagogical agent, meaningful play, and experiential learning to prevent/treat obesity in
      minority 3-5th grade youth and their families.
    

Detailed description: 
      1-16

      C.1.a: Overview of the Plan: This project will proceed in three iterative phases:
      Development, Dissemination and Evaluation. Development of a) curriculum, b) virtual garden
      and c) pedagogical agent will proceed in parallel, and be integrated during testing and
      evaluation. A participatory research group comprised of key community members, teachers,
      clinicians, education experts, 8-11 year old youth and their parents will be formed to
      provide iterative rounds of input and evaluation throughout the development of Virtual
      Sprouts. This participatory research group will provide input through focus groups, beta
      testing, idea-building and advisement throughout the development of Virtual Sprouts. We have
      successfully used this model in previous health and intervention studies. The participatory
      research group is composed of about 20 diverse members so as not to tax individual members
      with study needs and to ensure diverse input. Sub-groups of the larger participatory research
      group are formed for specific tasks, depending on research needs and group interest. The
      Virtual Sprouts Game will be developed around a virtual pedagogical agent, who will guide the
      player through the game using cognitive and affective learning principles. The Virtual
      Environment will be a game system developed using deep narrative and dramatic elements. Both
      the pedagogical agent and game environment will be extensively and iteratively tested with
      members of our participatory research group during development. The Virtual Sprouts game will
      then be introduced into three of the USC Family of Schools Elementary schools, C.1.b:
      Curriculum Development: During the first year of this grant, we will work on developing and
      focus group testing the nutrition and gardening curriculum. Curriculum will be tested
      iterative through focus groups and beta testing with members of the participatory research
      group. The gardening and nutrition program will not only teach children about the health
      benefits of fruits and vegetables but children will learn additional skills in math, science,
      and history. The program will include lessons relating to culture, including growing crops
      that have cultural significance such as nopales, beans, corn and squash (the latter three
      crops are historically referred to as "the three sisters"). Gardening provides an ideal
      vehicle for teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics such as
      how plants grow and how gardens can be managed in an environmentally sound manner (science
      including biology, earth sciences, agriculture, and the study of weather and climate), how to
      make good nutrition choices with the produce they harvest (nutrition sciences, health
      behavior). Furthermore, thinking about planting, harvesting, and climate involves a great
      deal of math and engineering. The web-based interactive nature of the Virtual Sprouts game
      will introduce children to new uses for advanced technologies.

      C.1.c: Game, Pedagogical Agent and Virtual Environment Integration: The game will contain the
      Pedagogical Agent and Virtual Environment and will provide the interaction framework through
      play mechanics. Rather than a serial task-driven game, we envision a persistent virtual
      environment in which the player will explore Virtual Sprouts and be challenged and nurtured
      by the agent in joint social play activities. Play experience will be episodic, requiring a
      few minutes of play per day over several weeks. Certain interactions in the virtual
      environment will be joint activities (such as watering or harvesting vegetables), and
      challenges issued by the agent will involve the agent personally. For example, the agent may
      challenge the learner to plant, grow, and harvest ingredients for a certain recipe, then
      prepare it. Based on the quality of the learners work, the agent may like or dislike the
      resulting meal. Use of this kind of intrinsic feedback blurs the line between learning and
      gameplay, and makes the agent an integral and thus indispensable part of the experience.
      During the first year, we will determine the breadth (variety) and depth (challenge) of the
      game experience in relation to gardening and cooking tasks appropriate for the target
      population through paper prototyping and iterative play testing (Fullerton T, Swain C,
      Hoffman S., 2008).

      C.1.d: Pedagogical Agent Components: The pedagogical agent will consist of several key
      components that, when combined, provide a knowledgeable, friendly, and entertaining companion
      for learning in the Virtual Sprouts environment through cognitive-affective approaches. These
      components include:

        1. Expert knowledge: The character will possess of cognitive model of effective gardening
           and cooking that will allow it to support the activities of the Virtual Sprouts game.
           This will enable the agent to explain how to create and maintain a healthy garden,
           harvest and cook items from the garden, and provide explanations of the health benefits
           of eating organically prepared foods. The expert model will also form the basis for
           assessment of learner activities to give them credit when they take a correct action
           (e.g., water at the correct time and amount) and to know when they've made a mistake
           (e.g., planted two seeds too close to one another). These assessments will feed into the
           pedagogical decision system.

        2. Pedagogical knowledge: The provision of guidance requires a delicate balance of
           providing timely (and wanted) support while allowing the learner to feel a sense of
           freedom and remain stay in control to feel a sense of ownership of the garden. Care must
           therefore be taken in decisions of how and when to provide guidance. Too little guidance
           can lead to frustration for many users (i.e., the agent should be helpful), while too
           much may threaten users' feelings of autonomy and freedom in the game environment (i.e.,
           the agent should not be perceived as controlling). Thus, through a combination of
           unsolicited guidance triggered by evidence of confusion and/or lack of domain knowledge
           and solicited guidance, when the learner requests help, the agent will seek to be a
           productive helper while ensuring that the learner is acquiring the needed knowledge and
           skills to succeed at Virtual Sprouts, and in their regular lives as the relate to eating
           and exercise.

        3. Emotion/affect knowledge: In addition to supporting game play and providing explanations
           for game events, the agent will also support the learner's affective state. Cultivating
           and nurturing interest, motivation, and positive feelings about the domain are critical
           in the pursuit of behavior change, and expressions of empathy from the agent can play
           into the learner's willingness to remain engaged (McQuiggan, S.W., Rowe, J.P., & Lester,
           J.C., 2008). These intervention techniques will be implemented in concert with the game-
           and cognitive-focused tactics described above. For example, a user who is just beginning
           and has completed his or her first vegetable will receive high praise, which will
           diminish with time for that specific accomplishment. Similarly, for learners who express
           a negative perception of gardening and vegetables, the agent will work harder to
           motivate and entertain.

        4. Animation and sound: As discussed above, the appearance of the agent will have an impact
           on the learner's affective state, both during and after the interaction. A well-known
           and respected character, such as one modeled after the First Lady (if possible), will
           increase the chances of establishing familiarity and credibility from the outset. Use of
           appealing animations and joint activity, such as watering the garden simultaneously,
           will bolster feelings of co-presence and teamwork. The character's voice, which will be
           delivered along with subtitles for English as a second language learners, will be chosen
           based on the preferences of users from the target audience in early testing of the
           system.

      C.1.e: Game, Pedagogical Agent and Virtual Environment Development: The phases of development
      are outlined below:

        1. Domain knowledge and learning objective analysis: (Desurvire, H., & Wiberg, C., 2008).

        2. Expert modeling and feedback:

        3. Pedagogical agent design & prototyping:

        4. Agent and game integration: I

        5. Agent visual and content revisions:

      C.1.g: Teacher Professional Development: The vehicle for training teachers to use the Virtual
      Sprout game is a hybrid approach and includes a Summer Teacher Academy (STA) serving as a
      kick off program with face to case and USC Distance Education Network (DEN) mediated, school
      site follow-up professional development in elementary school classrooms using a lesson study
      approach. Teacher academies have been recognized in the teacher education literature as a
      powerful and impactful way of comprehensively training and supporting teachers (Crowther,
      D.T., Vilá J.S., Fathman A.K., 2006).

      The Summer Teacher Academy: A summer teacher academy (STA) will occur in August each
      implementation year immediately after year one of the program's development phase and in
      years 2-5. Through the STA, teachers will be trained annually. The academies will be three
      days long at USC's campus as each of the target schools are in relative close proximity with
      USC. Mornings in the academy will be spent learning the nutrition conceptual knowledge,
      exploring the application and practicing using a guided experiential learning approach to
      facilitating the game use. The content for the training will be aligned with grades 6-12
      California health content standards focused on nutrition and related health. Lesson study,
      beginning with observational demos and progressing to teacher created role-play will be of
      focus of the professional development. The teacher participants will spend a portion of the
      morning observing and practicing Virtual Sprouts game, discussing the application and use of
      the game in their classrooms. As academic year follow-up, teacher participants will practice
      using the Virtual Sprouts game application and engage in peer review of game facilitation
      with fellow teachers (lesson study) in tandem with the USC teacher education experts in their
      classrooms.
    

Intervention name(s): Virtual Sprouts
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): The Virtual Sprouts intervention group will play Virtual Sprouts in a school-based implementation of the game.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Obesity; Nutrition; Children