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Development of a Web‐based, multimedia computer application for teaching food safety to middle school children
Author(s) -
Lynch Rebecca,
Steen Dale,
Pritchard Todd,
Buzzell Paul,
Manley Joseph,
Pintauro Stephen
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a212-b
Subject(s) - curriculum , the internet , medical education , psychology , cognition , resource (disambiguation) , multimedia , computer science , pedagogy , medicine , world wide web , computer network , neuroscience
More than 76 million persons become ill from foodborne pathogens in the U.S. each year. To reduce these numbers, food safety education efforts need to be targeted at not only adults, but school children, as well. The middle school grades are ideal for integrating food safety education into the curriculum, while simultaneously contributing to national and state education standards in science, technology, and family and consumer sciences. The Internet offers the opportunity to deliver engaging, content rich, learning materials to rural communities that may not have the resources and/or faculty with the necessary expertise to provide a high‐quality food safety educational program. For this project, we have developed a multimedia, self‐paced online resource for delivering a food safety curriculum to middle school children. Animated characters are used to deliver the lesson content. The application also includes video segments, quiz feedback, and interactive games and activities. We are now in the process of testing the effectiveness of this program with approximately 500 middle school children from around the country. The effectiveness is being determined using validated cognitive and attitudinal evaluation instruments. We are also measuring student learning styles and comparing student attitudes and cognitive gain with individual learning styles.