Visceral VR: Immersive Human Biology for the Study of Health and Disease

PROJECT SUMMARY ABSTRACTVISCERAL VR Basic nutrition information often comes in the form of blandabstract words and numbers on a food labela label many consumers ignoreLighthaus s Visceral VR aims to bring nutrition to life by harnessing the power of virtual realityVRto pioneer an immersiveinteractive approach to teaching the science of nutrition to high school studentsWith Visceralstudents can follow a meal from the first bite to the last moleculetravelling through the digestive system into the small intestinewhere they can break the food down into molecular nutrients to explore what shealthyand what isn tand see whether those molecules are delivered to cells for energy or stored as fatVisceral gives students a gut level understanding of the relationship between food and healthLighthaus s VR based immersive science and health curricula are designed to engage students in excitingtransformative experiences that challenge them to apply scientific thought and practice to develop theories based on first hand experimentation in in VRWe believe these embodied experiences in science can inspire a new generation of students to pursue careers in ScienceTechnologyEngineering and MathematicsSTEMOur project will evaluate science based VR curriculumandapos s ability to spark student interest in STEM careersas well as the effect it has on their retention of health related knowledge they can use for crucial lifelong diet and nutrition decisionsWe will conduct a series of usability and feasibility studies with high school science studentsfollowed by a randomized control trialRCTto test the hypothesis that student use of Visceral can have an effect on studentshealth and physiology content knowledgestudentsattitudes towards nutrition and dietand studentsSTEM aspirations and self perceptions as scientists PROJECT NARRATIVEVISCERAL VR Lighthaus s Visceral VR aims to give learners a gut level sense of how nutrition works by harnessing the power of virtual realityVRto pioneer an immersiveinteractive approach to teaching the science of nutrition to high school studentsWith Visceralstudents can follow a meal from the first bite to the last moleculetravelling through the digestive system into the small intestinewhere they can break the food down into molecular nutrients to explore what shealthyand what isn tOur project will evaluate science based VR curriculumandapos s ability to spark student interest in STEM careersas well as the effect it has on their retention of healthrelated knowledge they can use for crucial lifelong diet and nutrition decisions