Title: FoodKnight: a mobile educational game and analyses for obesity awareness of children

Authors: Thomas Bailey; Fadi Thabtah; Marcus Wright; Duy Anh Tran

Addresses: Digital Technologies, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland 2104, New Zealand ' Digital Technologies, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland 2104, New Zealand ' Digital Technologies, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland 2104, New Zealand ' Digital Technologies, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland 2104, New Zealand

Abstract: One of the main contributing factors towards child obesity is deficient education regarding food choices. In most cases, children will choose energy-dense foods over those with more nutritional value, without understanding the consequences of their decisions. To help overcome this problem, this paper proposes and assesses the efficacy of an educational gaming application called FoodKnight. Games have the ability to engage children more than traditional teaching schooling methods. FoodKnight incorporates stealth learning to disguise the teaching of healthy food choices while playing a game, while simultaneously incorporating a step-counter to encourage the user to be active. Survey results received from 38 participants regarding the initial prototype have been positive, with minor issues being addressed in an upcoming update. FoodKnight has been shown to be an effective tool for subconsciously conditioning children to make healthier choices.

Keywords: educational gaming application; food choices; medical informatics; mobile development; stealth learning; software development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMEI.2024.136975

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2024 Vol.16 No.2, pp.139 - 149

Received: 07 May 2021
Accepted: 01 Nov 2021
Published online: 01 Mar 2024 *

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