Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Today children wholive in food and nutrition-insecure communities tend to have higher long-term incidences of hypertension, diabetes, and childhood obesity, especially children of color, which impacts not only their long-term health but also their academic performance in school and consequently their economic earning potential. Parents and caregivers generally acknowledge that eating the required daily serving of fruits and vegetables can improve their child's health. However, even when fruits and vegetables are available, neophobia continues to be a pervasive problem resulting in food waste.Grady's Garden is a social mission-driven company that is positioned to address these challenges with itsunique business model that includes branded nutritious food products; a Grady's Garden animation show that chronicles the lives of six kids who decide to create an urban garden; anda first-in-category "Grady's Garden App" technology. We built thePhase I Grady's Garden App and tested it with children, parents, teachers, and after-school administrators, integrating the Grady's Garden cartoon show with digitized educational modules on nutrition, gardening, and social-emotional learning. The willingness to try vegetables and vegetable identification results were promising. The Phase II version of the App will offer new functionality and enhancements, such as interactive games and quizzesand gamified physical activity challenges, whichwill expand our impactand engage with more kids across the US and abroad. We will license the app to school districts, after-school programs, and parents and caregivers with free use afforded as well. Ultimately the data we collect via the Grady's Garden App and our ecosystem will help policymakers, parents, schools,afterschool programs, and food retailers to identify insights that improve the health of children and communities most in need.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
60%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
The primary goal for the Phase II Grady's Garden Appis to consistently and effectively communicate the educational modules and animation content. Key objectives:To maximize engagement and encourage positive behavior change in children.Increase in willingness to try vegetablesIncrease in vegetable identificationThe secondary goal for the Grady's Garden Appis to develop a resource hub that will accomplish the following objectivesEnable engaged facilitated learning strategies and materials for educators via the AppProvidetoolsvia the App for parents/caregivers targeting improvement in child food neophobia, household food waste, and physically active screen time.
Project Methods
Key Efforts that will be employed to create a change in knowledge, attitude, and behaviors as a result of the Phase II Grady's Garden App technology:The Grady's Garden team will work with its technical expertsto develop the Grady's Garden App with a specific focuson the following new features:Interactive games and quizzes for children to learn about different foods, nutrition concepts, and the importance ofhealthy eating;Challenges for adventurous eating; personalized suggestions for healthy foods to try; and gamified physical activity challenges to earn badges or unlock new content.The foregoing features will be built in a manner that is tailored for children to use the Grady's Garden Appautonomously from adult supervision.Build a centralized repository of lesson plans, best practices, and tools aligned with theGrady's Garden App's educational content so parents/caregivers and administrators may useTo evaluate the technology, 2nd and 3rd graders will engage with the App, answering questions before, during, and after the engagement. Key Evaluation Metrics:Grady's GardenApp user engagement via the App functionality, navigation, and content (children & adults)Grady's Garden user satisfaction via surveys (children & adults)Evaluate Pre and Post changes in willingness to try vegetables, and vegetable identification via direct user feedback