Fight BAC! Interactive Computer Module for Elementary Age Children

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Several population groups, including young children, are very susceptible to foodborne illness and its severe complications. In order to prevent foodborne illnesses, consumer education for all ages is a critical need.</P>
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The purpose of this project is to develop, implement and evaluate an interactive computer-based CD-ROM designed to teach the four principles of safe food handling included in the Fight BAC!TM Food Safety Education Campaign to elementary age children. </p>
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This project will be carried out over a three-year period. An interactive computer CD-ROM will be designed, developed, field tested and evaluated. The computer module will contain the animated Fight Bac!TM children's video currently being developed with funding from USDA-CSREES Project No. 99-41560-0815. </p>
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In addition, the module, as currently proposed, will contain 4 - 6 interactive activities/games based on the video components to address the four Fight Bac!TM principles. </p>
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It is anticipated that activities/games will be designed to encompass various components of the elementary curriculum, including language arts, math, etc. For K - 1st grade, examples of potential activities/games include matching games, coloring activities, connect-the-numbers, etc. For 2nd - 3rd grade, examples of potential activities/games include word finds, math puzzles, mazes, etc. based on the four principles of the Fight Bac!TM campaign. </p>
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The module will be designed to provide immediate feedback to responses and prompting. The master of the module will be designed such that, should funding be available under new RFP's in subsequent years, these materials could be repurposed for multilingual audiences. </p>
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Formative evaluation using focus groups with elementary teachers and/or elementary age children will be conducted in each pilot state during the design process to ensure product acceptability. All materials needed for this project will be produced in Georgia and sent to pilot states. Extension agents in the pilot states will be trained to work with elementary teachers to implement and evaluate the computer module. </p>
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The experimental design for the final evaluation component of the project will compare experimental groups who are exposed to both the video and the interactive computer modules with control groups exposed only to the video component. </p>
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A pre-test/post-test/post-post test design will be used to examine increase in knowledge of the four Fight Bac!TM principles and safe food handling procedures and knowledge retained over a 3-month period. Questions will be included to determine frequency with which safe food handling behaviors are practiced. </p>
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Qualitative evaluation components will address the following:
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<li> attitudes toward safe food handling practices that support the four Fight Bac!TM principles prior to and following exposure to the materials for both control and experimental groups, and
<li> attitudes toward various features or components of the CD-ROM and suggestions to enhance future product acceptability. </li></ol></p>
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All materials required for the evaluation process will be produced in Georgia and sent to pilot states. Data collected will be analyzed using SAS and/or SPSS. </p>
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The University of Georgia, Mississippi State University and North Carolina State University in cooperation with The Partnership for Food Safety Education, FSIS-USDA and CSREES-USDA have developed food safety computer games based on the Smart Kids Fight BAC! animated video. </p>
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Six games offer fun-filled, interactive environments for learning food safety principles while learning math, science, language arts and computer skills for K-3rd grade curriculum standards. Three difficulty levels of play in one- and two- player formats with support materials including a BAC-tionary, BAC-lopedia, etc. make this a rich tool for a variety of skill levels, including gifted learners. </p>
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Focus groups with teachers and students ensured appropriate content, design and usability. Final pilot testing occurred in three states. Children in test groups watched the animated video, completed workbook activities from the Smart Kids Fight BAC! curriculum and played the computer games. Control groups followed the same format without exposure to the computer games. </p>
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Results of pre-, post- and post-post tests indicate that the program is most effective in increasing knowledge of food safety at the K-2nd grade levels. The control group (n equals 614) scored significantly higher than the CD-ROM group (n equals 620) on the pre-test (p less than 0.05). Immediately following implementation, there was no significant difference between the post-test means for the two groups (p greater than 0.05). However, by the end of the 8-week study, the CD-ROM group had a significantly greater increase in knowledge (p less than 0.05) over the course of the study indicating that these computer games may stimulate children's interest and ability to learn food safety information. </p>
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Since this pilot testing, additional agents have been trained in the delivery and evaluation of the CD-ROM. Further data analysis is underway to produce single state reports as well as county reports for individual agents. An abstract has been submitted and accepted for presentation at the 2005 International Association for Food Protection Annual Meeting in August in Baltimore, Md. </p>
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Results of pre-, post- and post-post tests are expected to indicate an increase in knowledge of food safety during the course of study. The computer games are expected to stimulate children's interest and ability to learn food safety information. When data is broken out by state, we expect to find similar results for each state. </p>