Abstract:

Research suggests that the changing lifestyle in the United Arab Emirates has manifested itself in many new ways including new eating habits. The growing trend in obesity and associated conditions such as diabetes and heart disease is one of international and national concern. In order to alleviate the possible future demands on the health service and as a means to empowering the individual at a civic level, numerous countries have implemented ‘healthy eating and lifestyle’ programs. This involves public information campaigns delivered by the media as well as curriculum modifications in order to publicise information and to create a consensual body of knowledge amongst all individuals within any given society. The web has been used extensively to deliver this information ‘informally’ by way of public information campaigns and ‘formally’ as e-based teaching and learning resources for teachers and students. Educational multimedia has been used in game based formats to foster and promote both formal and informal learning with students. There is however little conclusive research evidence to suggest the efficacy of these applications in affecting students attitudes and beliefs in the short and/or long term. The growing use of e-resources as teaching and learning tools suggests that a pedagogic approach to games development is needed. Regarding nutrition education an understanding of the individual’s conceptualisation of this subject area is fundamental in order to be able to later intervene with information that can directly challenge beliefs and attitudes. Traditional research methods (questionnaires, diaries, interviews) have generated interesting findings however there is growing evidence to suggest that these methods do not necessarily allow the individual to explain their own understanding of their world in their own words. This study therefore used a creative visual research method. Art based workshops were conducted in four public school classrooms that allowed students to concretely represent and describe their beliefs, attitudes and nutrition behaviour (diet and exercise) using visual representations such as pictures from magazines and newspapers and their own drawings. The results from the art based workshop (artefact and discussion) revealed that students had a complex understanding of the issues involved in nutrition education which extended beyond identifying food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Issues that dealt with economic and cultural reasons for food and exercise choices were made explicit. The findings derived from these workshops were used to produce a prototype culturally appropriate interactive multimedia game for Arabic speaking students attending public schools in Dubai. Teacher and student feedback concerning the applications use as a teaching and learning resource has been positive.

Keywords:

Challenging attitudes, diet and physical activity, creative visual research methods, educational computer games development, user requirements.