SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Penn State Schuylkill students could learn about nutrition via mobile apps for their devices in the future.
Two Information Sciences and Technology students, senior Kevin Hoelzle, 22, and junior Matthew Kull, 22, are developing a game application as part of an internship. Along with Elinor M. Madigan, program coordinator for IST, they also created a flashcard application for iPad and Android tablets.
About 15 people attended a 30-minute presentation Wednesday on the progress of the applications' development at the Health and Wellness Center on the school's campus.
"It's still a work in progress," said Darcy L. Medica, associate professor of biology.
The applications will be used for students enrolled in the BiSc004 course at the campus, which focuses on human anatomy.
Students are very familiar with using their phones and other mobile devices to research information and this is another tool for them, Medica said.
The two students started their work in the summer as part of an internship in the IST 495 course. The flashcard application is mostly completed. It took about seven weeks.
There are plans for the flashcard application to go public but a decision has not been made yet on the game.
Those attending Wednesday's presentation were able to touch iPad and Android tablet screens to test the flashcard app.
The game application, titled "Tom A Toe and His Adventures to Save The American Diet," should be completed by March.
"We want to shoot down the bad food," Hoelzle said. Students will also learn other information as part of the application.
A prototype of the game was displayed on screen after the presentation, showing a red tomato shooting away bad food such as bacon.
The apps were written in HTML 5, a markup language for browsers, JavaScript, an embedded language that enhances HTML, and Cascading Style Sheet, which is used to enhance HTML 5, Madigan said.
Both Madigan and Medica and the students will go to Penn State York in March for a study with the same course taught by a adjunct instructor of biology, Jorge Santiago-Blay.
Students in a similar class in York will participate in a study to test the effectiveness of the applications. That could include a quiz and use of the applications, although final details are not worked out yet, Medica said.
Penn State Schuylkill Chancellor Kelly M. Austin attended the presentation and used an iPad for the flashcard app.
"I thought it was fantastic," he said.
Michael Gallis, associate professor of physics, agreed.
"It's very easy to use," he said of the flashcard application, which showed a picture of different types of food and provided nutritional descriptions.