Mushrooms and tomatoes, veggies that are often reviled by preschoolers, star in a new app designed by a Stanford graduate student that aims to involve children in preparing, and eating, healthy meals.
"Children are more likely to try food that they've helped cook," explained Ashley Moulton, a graduate student in the School of Education's Learning, Design and Technology Program, in a recent Stanford News story.
Moulton's iPad app, Nomster Chef, is one of several student projects featured in the article and accompanying video:
Before cooking, children receive an educational video about a food they'll be working with – for example, a video on how mushrooms grow. The app also incorporates food information in the recipe steps, like the fact that tomatoes are actually a fruit.
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After user-testing the app prototype, "I heard from parents that they noticed differences in how their kids are eating," Moulton said. The app also kept kids engaged throughout the cooking process.
For her project, fellow student Karen Wang developed an iPad app called FeelingTalk that helps children with autism interpret facial expressions:
...[I]n the first level of FeelingTalk, kids choose the one face that's different (a sad face) from the three happy faces on the screen. The app will then label the different face "sad."
"My app will be utilizing learning mechanics that directly work with the autistic brain to help them work on something that they're having difficulty with," Wang said. "By leveraging something they're good at, we're going to teach them to get comfortable looking at people's faces, examining the key features, and eventually understanding emotions."
Moulton, Wang and other students will present their work this afternoon at the LDT Expo at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
Previously: A look at the MyHeart Counts app and the potential of mobile technologies to improve human health and No bribery necessary: Children eat more vegetables when they understand how food affects their bodies
Photo by Peter Weemeeuw
