In collaboration with the AOK Rheinland/Hamburg we created a prevention concept for health at colleges. Through esport we were able to teach topics like exercise and nutrition in a playful kind of way.
esport as an approach
At first glance you would falsely claim that there aren´t that many similarities between esports and school. However, both are done mostly while sitting and you have to be very focused over long periods of time. Even more important is the lack in physical activity and the short time for food preparations, which often results in a unbalanced nutrition.
The esport is a formidable approach due to the fact, that it´s already a big part in the life of many students. In this way, topics such as active breaks and healthy nutrition, which are equally important for esport and school life, can be communicated and taught in a more easily and a playful manner.
Experience exercise and nutrition through playing
Even the teacher and students themselves speak of a need for action. They are happy for a modern approach and confirm that their knowledge for health has to be further improved. The main goal should be to improve the level of physical activity and reduce the long times spent sitting.
The concept of active breaks as well as healthy nutrition have been taught through a modified version of the game „Overcooked“. The goal of the game was to find different QR-Codes which have been hidden somewhere on the schoolyard. If a group of students found all of them, a recipe for a healthy meal appeared on their screen. To improve social interaction and cooperative working we used the game „Keep talking and nobody explodes“. One player sees a virtual bomb on the screen and tries to describe it as accurate as possible. All the others can´t see the bomb, but have the manual to defuse it. To win you have to communicate as much and as precisely as you can. So you can defuse the bomb before running out of time.
Positive resonance
According to the results of our acceptance analysis, students as well as teachers found the project helpful and were happy about the new approach as well as the newly learned skills.
Looking into the future, this project shows potential to be used in working settings. Nutrition and active breaks are very relevant for the working and especially digital life but aren´t prioritized enough so far. To counteract this problem we want to motivate and let people rethink about their current health behavior.
If you want to see how the project looks in action you can click on the following video: esports goes school
