Giocampus school: a “learning through playing” approach to deliver nutritional education to children

Abstract

To improve nutritional knowledge of children, single-group educational interventions with pre/post knowledge assessment were performed in primary schools in Parma, Italy, participating to the Giocampus Program. A total of 8165 children (8-11 years old) of 3rd, 4th and 5th grades of primary school were involved in 3 hours per class nutritional lessons, with specifically designed games and activities for each school grade. To evaluate children learning, a questionnaire was administered before and after three months of educational intervention. A total of 16330 questionnaires were analysed. Children nutritional knowledge significantly increased (p< 0.001) in all school grades. The integrated "learning through playing" approach, including the educational figures, tools and games, was successful in improving children's nutritional knowledge. A stable integration of this method in primary school settings could prepare a new generation of citizens, better educated on health-promotion lifestyles.

Weight Status Is Related with Gender and Sleep Duration but Not with Dietary Habits and Physical Activity in Primary School Italian Children

“…An integrated “learning through playing” approach for delivering nutritional education has been successful in improving children’s knowledge about healthy foods and a healthy lifestyle [14]. Professionally guided programs of physical education may also lead to significant progress in the development of conditional and coordinative abilities [15].…”

Aplicación de un juego de mesa para enseñar conceptos de nutrición y actividad física a niños de escuela primaria y secundaria

“…Los autores no encontraron diferencias significativas en el conocimiento cuando compararon el grupo control con el intervenido en condiciones basales; sin embargo, después de la intervención la calificación fue de 9.3 ± 0.8 para el grupo intervención y de 7.5 ± 1.1 para el grupo control (p < 0.01) (Castillo Lizardo et al, 2001). En un estudio en Parma, Italia, reportaron que después de tres meses de intervención con juegos el conocimiento sobre nutrición aumentó significativamente (p < 0.01) y concluyeron que la integración de este método de enseñanza en las escuelas primarias podría preparar una nueva generación de ciudadanos mejor educados sobre estilos de vida saludables (Rosi et al, 2016). También se han utilizado las tecnologías de la información como un medio dinámico para transmitir conceptos de alimentación y nutrición como en el caso de un juego en internet que se llama Gustavo en el planeta de Gnam.…”

“…Estos juegos han sido utilizados con éxito en el área de la salud, lo que ayuda en tratamientos psicoterapéuticos o en el tratamiento de niños y adultos con enfermedades crónicas como la diabetes, el asma y el cáncer (Dias et al, 2016). En Parma, Italia, se implementó un programa denominado Giocampus en 8 165 niños de 8 a 11 años en escuelas primarias, donde se impartieron lecciones de nutrición, con énfasis en juegos y actividades con una duración de tres horas (Rosi et al, 2016).…”

Acceptability of Group Visits for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Pediatric Clinics

“…Our curriculum mirrors health promotion school-based curriculum in that it used "learning through playing" or experiential learning approaches to increase children's knowledge. [45][46][47] Others have explored the use of interactive video games to engage children in promoting healthy behaviors and chronic care management for diabetes, cancer, obesity and asthma. [48][49][50][51][52][53][54] While our ADHD group visits did not utilize technology or video games, children expressed enjoyment from "hands on" activities that occurred during group visits, such as the craft or icebreaker activities that encouraged children to move around or helped break up the time sitting in a circle.…”