Interactive Computer Graphics for Teenage Sex Education

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has identified the need for programs to delay the onset of sexual activity among adolescents and to increase contraceptive protection of the adolescents who are sexually active. In response to this need, we will develop a hypermedia-based intelligent interface for teenager sexuality education. Specific aims include development of instructional methodologies which encourage postponement of sexual involvement, integration of the instructional methodologies with hypermedia-based presentation techniques, and design of an expert system director for system control and evaluation of system ease-of-operation and effectiveness. Successful completion of these research will result in a user-friendly instructional tool for promotion of responsible sexual behavior among adolescents. The significance of this effort is the innovative combination of expert systems and hypermedia technology to facilitate cognitive development and emotional maturation in middle and high school level youths. Since hypermedia learning environments afford users greater flexibility in information retrieval than either manuals or video tapes, ARCOVA will demonstrate a proof-of-concept system for teenager sexuality education that is more effective than present techniques.