Teaching the Biological Consequences of Alcohol Abuse through an Online Game: Impacts among Secondary Students

Abstract

A multimedia game was designed to serve as a dual-purpose intervention that aligned with National Science Content Standards, while also conveying knowledge about the consequences of alcohol consumption for a secondary school audience. A tertiary goal was to positively impact adolescents' attitudes toward science through career role-play experiences within the game. In a pretest/delayed posttest design, middle and high school students, both male and female, demonstrated significant gains on measures of content knowledge and attitudes toward science. The best predictors of these outcomes were the players' ratings of the game's usability and satisfaction with the game. The outcomes suggest that game interventions can successfully teach standards-based science content, target age-appropriate health messages, and impact students' attitudes toward science.

Acceptability of an Online Health Videogame to Improve Diet and Physical Activity in Elementary School Students: “Fitter Critters”

“…The high acceptability ratings for the game are encouraging for further research on the ability of ''Fitter Critters'' to improve healthy eating and activity. Studies of health videogames used in school to increase health knowledge reported satisfaction and usability ratings ranging from 3.39 to 3.75 on a 5-point scale, 10,11 which is lower than the mean ratings observed in the present study. As satisfaction and usability appear to be correlated with knowledge gained, the high acceptability of ''Fitter Critters'' has implications for its ability to impact health knowledge and ultimately behavior.…”

“…The health meter changes based on the Critter's diet and physical activity. The diet meters represent daily nutritional requirements, based on the USDA recommendations for children [8][9][10][11][12] years old, and fill as the player feeds the Critter. Meters reset daily so they can be filled again the next time the player logs on.…”

“…8 The integration of health videogames into schools to improve weight-related behaviors is largely unexplored but has great potential for preventing childhood obesity. Videogames have been used in schools to teach educational content and convey health messages related to nutrition, 9 alcohol and drug use, [10][11][12] and hygiene. 13 Videogame acceptability may be critical to the ability of these games to impact behavior, as student satisfaction and usability ratings of videogames were positively correlated with knowledge gained.…”

“…13 Videogame acceptability may be critical to the ability of these games to impact behavior, as student satisfaction and usability ratings of videogames were positively correlated with knowledge gained. 10,11 ''Fitter CrittersÔ,'' developed by Megazoid Games (Collegeville, PA), is an online videogame intended for use in schools for children [8][9][10][11][12] years old, which won 2nd place in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Michelle Obama 2010 Apps for Healthy Kids contest. In the game, the player is responsible for the health of a virtual pet (Critter).…”

A Hierarchy-of-Effects Approach to Designing a Social Marketing Game

“…Specifically, the game employs a theme of a typical night out whereby gamers' choices regarding drinking result in a positive or negative outcome. In America, Klisch, Miller, Beier, and Wang (2012) developed a multimedia digital game, The Web Adventure, N Squad, which incorporated middle school health content and effects of alcohol consumption. The purpose of the game was to simultaneously educate teenagers about alcohol abuse while impacting positively on their attitudes toward science.…”