Beginning Plans

In the beginning, our goals were simple:

This project will target youth ages 8-14 by incorporating inquiry-based activities into an on-line food safety games site, The Food Detectives Fight BAC!®. This new project will use the techniques that have proven successful in the past -- fun games, songs and activities -- to share basic food safety messages with children. However, this project will have an additional appeal to older adolescents by allowing them to explore the science behind the food safety “rules and practices.”

We brought in food scientists, a risk analyst, science education specialist and game designers to create science-based games that would do more than simply teach kids about food safety, it would lead youth to conclude for themselves the best practices for preventing food borne illness.
We identified science processes recommended by the NSTA, refined the food safety messages we thought were important and began formative assessment regarding attitudes of our target audience regarding food safety.