Development of an AR Food Education System to Support Elementary School Nutrition Education

Eating behaviors are developed gradually during childhood, so it is crucial to educate students about the nutrition of snacks and drinks sold in the market from an early age. This underscores the importance of school education in shaping and cultivating children's eating habits. Numerous studies have shown that taking students to supermarkets for nutrition education can improve their awareness of nutrition labels and buying habits. However, most nutritional education courses in Taiwan's elementary schools are conducted in traditional classrooms and do not effectively incorporate real-world learning situations. To improve the effectiveness of nutrition education in elementary schools, this study developed an AR food education system that combined game design, augmented reality, and image recognition technologies to support nutrition teaching activities. An experiment was conducted in an elementary school, inviting 27 6th grade students to participate and evaluate the effect of the proposed system on nutrition education. Results showed that the system attracted students' attention and provided a sense of satisfaction after learning. Moreover, the proposed approach enhanced students' learning performance in nutrition education.