Bee Tees: Leveling Up in Obesity and Diabetes Education

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Childhood obesity rates in the US have tripled in the last years and have led to a concomitant increase in the prevalence of type diabetes in young people Interactive Science in D IS D is taking a new approach to these problems by developing a serious game Bee Tees for use inside or outside the classroom Using a beehive as an analogy for the human body Bee Tees will help children learn the importance of nutrition and physical activity and how poor choices can lead to obesity and diabetes IS Dandapos s approach is radically different from other educational software companies as we use fundamental biological processes as our core game mechanics As a result players must learn to apply scientific principles to succeed in our games Once students are engaged their natural inquisitiveness and desire to beat the game opens their minds to learning more about the underlying science and facilitates discussions about the processes involved By integrating industry leading game engine software with compelling audio tracks visual elements and novel game mechanics IS D is developing a new wave of inquiry based interactive videogames Bee Tees will draw on our experience with our other games Osy andamp Nurbits which use similarly novel abstract approaches to help students learn osmosis and neuroscience respectively Bee Tees will be a health focused game that puts the player in control of a virtual beehive To succeed in Bee Tees players must manage the hiveandapos s inputs and outputs to keep the hive healthy i e in homeostasis If they fail to manage their resources the hive will deteriorate in a manner that mimics the complications that occur in people with Type diabetes By playing Bee Tees students will learn the importance of balancing energy inputs food with energy expenditures physical activity to maintain a healthy body IS D will work closely with teachers to ensure that Bee Tees includes learning objectives that are aligned with state and national health and science standards and is andquot teacher approvedandquot for learning and with students to ensure that Bee Tees is andquot student approvedandquot for fun Furthermore Bee Tees will be designed to work across Mac PC Web iOS Facebook and Android platforms and be modular and scalable These latter characteristics of Bee Tees will facilitate monetization of the product through purchases of add ons and specific lesson plans for use across health and science curricula This Phase I feasibility study will focus on the development of a beta version of Bee Tees that will then be put into full multi platform development and rigorous evaluation in Phase II While Bee Tees alone will not solve the obesity epidemic we are confident that Bee Tees will provide a much needed new approach to engaging children in nutrition and science education Of equal importance Bee Tees will demonstrate that a andquot seriousandquot videogame can be fun educational and commercially viable PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Childhood obesity and type diabetes are major health problems in the US and educating young people about the importance of nutrition and physical activity will be an important part of the solution Because games are such a popular medium amongst children this project will develop a fun videogame that will help students learn the importance of healthy nutrition and physical activity We want to encourage children to replace some of the videogames they currently play at home such as Angry Birds with games that are more educational