Utah State-Funded Food Safety Program for Children Wins International Award
Children FightBAC!, an educational software program funded by Utah State University and designed by LetterPress Software, won an international award at the 9th annual Educational Software Review Awards this month. The program was developed by the Safe Food Institute in conjunction with the university’s Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences.
The Educational Software Review Awards (EDDIES) are internationally recognized for selecting “innovative and content-rich programs. The Children FightBAC! program, which was designed to increase children’s knowledge and use of specific food handling procedures, won an EDDIE in the category of Upper Elementary health.
Children FightBAC! uses three distinct learning approaches to teach the children; traditional instructional design, use of animation, and the use of interactive computer games.
“This approach proved to be highly successful in that our students loved the modules and they learned,” according to Janet Anderson, a clinical assistant professor in the dietetics program at Utah State and director of the Safe Food Institute. “There is no one else in the industry doing this type of work.”
The program consists of four instructional modules with a total of 12 interactive lessons. Each lesson uses cartoon characters. The purpose of the learning modules is to increase children’s knowledge and use of specific recommendations. The four main suggestions are (1) washing hands and surfaces often, (2) avoiding cross-contamination of foods, (3) proper refrigeration, and (4) cooking at the correct temperatures.
Three, six-grade classes with a total of 130 students tested the program. Prior to viewing the training modules, all students were observed preparing a meal of a sandwich and smoothie beverage. On average, students washed their hands for 15 seconds after being prompted by teachers. At the same time, students were given a pre-test on basic food-safety knowledge with an average score of 59 percent.
Following the FightBAC! lessons, students preparing another meal washed their hands an average of 26 seconds, and scored 90 percent in food safety knowledge. One month following the program, another food safety post-test was given. The average score was 83 percent.
“We are thrilled,” said Anderson, “All of the other international educational software publishers were competing for these awards, including Scholastic, PLATO Learning, Texas Instruments, Leap Frog, etc. We are highly regarded in the industry.”
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