project19week6

Eating habit among children has been a topic of great concern for either parents or society in general. Children, who are able to use money to buy food, tend to choose junk foods that do not have any nutritive value. Based on these criteria, I found that it is important to conduct a study about this concern. I am living in New York, so I chose to conduct the research on the population constitutes of middle school students in New York City. However, it would difficult for me to include every single middle school student in New York In my study. To make it possible, I chose a sample of participant comprised by a certain number of students from each middle school. To proceed the recruitment of these subjects comprised of boys and girls, I randomly collected their student ID from the schools database, after having access to do so.

            I had two group of students, an experimental group, which was assigned to play a game about diet, and a control group that was not allowed to play the game. There were no specific screening criteria used in order to determine if a subject was eligible or not to play the game. The participants were chosen randomly, however they must be middle school students in New York. Students who were not in middle school level were excluded from the study. I did not choose to limit the study to a specific gender or ethnicity, the only requirement was that you had to be a middle school student.

            Student were volunteered to participate in the study. They received course credit for their participation. I used materials such as computers, iPads, chairs, and headphones to allow students to play the game. To stimulate them, when students win the game by choosing foods that promote learning ability, they were rewarded by receiving cash, and positive comments about their physical and mental health. The rewards are showing in the screen of the computers. Yet, they also represent the assets that would allow the player to move to a higher level while playing.

            Responses were measured by the choice of foods students made and their performance at school, after finishing playing the game. I compared the choice of food and the performance of children before and after they play the game. In each condition, subjects were asking to play a game or not playing. They were asking to come to their school lab, which provide all the instructions needed on the screen once you start playing the game. I collected data by using school database. Students’ ID number were selected randomly from the database.

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About Robert O. Duncan

I'm an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences at City University of New York, with joint appointments in Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience. I also have an appointment as a Visiting Scholar at New York University. My research interests include cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging, glaucoma, neurodegenerative disorders, attention, learning, memory, educational technology, pedagogy, and developing games for education.

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