A research team in Vancouver decided to try and do something to tackle childhood obesity and help motivate kids to get up and move as part of a pilot study taking place this month.
The team, through a grant from the Peter Wall Solutions initiative, has worked to develop a game that combines physical activity with using a smartphone.
In the game, called ‘Monster Manor’, kids wear a sensor on their ankle that records all their movements. They then upload their results to their smartphone. The movements are converted into points, which they can then use to unlock different parts and levels of the game.
The research group has several members, including UBC Children’s Hospital, two BC based technology companies and the new Kids Can advisory board.
The game has been tested by several kids as part of the initial 10-week pilot study, and so far, the results look promising. The next step will be to try it out as part of the physical education curriculum at a couple of different elementary schools in the province.
The Peter Wall Solutions fund is a $3m initiative at UBC that allows academics to team up with community stakeholders to solve problems in different communities throughout the province.
Projects such as this can make good use of professional printing services to create and provide all the documents that needed to record and track the progress of the participants. This can make quite a difference in the overall success of their efforts.
