Gerrit Niezen edited introduction.tex  over 10 years ago

Commit id: 96ba6fcc3a9853d4481e9348d52e5cfe78757b5d

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Reversing the image of the sedentary lifestyle amongst children, our goal is to engage with young people in the school environment and help them to increase their physical activity levels. We have chosen the school environment because (1) this is where children spend most of their time; and (2) we want to promote active learning, where kids are able to use their school playgrounds as outdoor classrooms.   The project entailed a pilot study on using ambient displays to provide real-time visual feedback on physical activity. A class of schoolchildren was monitored with Fitbit activity monitors and their daily physical activity was visualised on a custom ambient display, consisting in part of an LED lighting strip installed in the classroom. Ambient displays (also called glanceable displays) are peripheral, aesthetically pleasing displays of information that support awareness of some data. Part of their appeal is in how they make information visible in an aesthetic, playful and public way. They are designed to be looked at occasionally and peripherally without distracting us from our activities \cite{Marshall_Dalton_Hertrich_2010}.  In addition, addition to the ambient display,  video segments describing mission-based activities were shown on tablet devices to the children at the start of each week. The study itself ran for four weeks, with a different mission allocated to each week. Each group’s performance was compared to that of the previous day, where the ambient display would indicate if their performance improved. Pre- and post-intervention measurements were performed, which included anthropometric measurements such as height, weight, and BMI (Body Mass Index), shuttles completed on the bleep test as a measure of fitness, and 7-day objectively assessed physical activity levels.