MOOCs and Game-based Learning for Food Education at school: the “Atalante” project


Food, in its various forms and representations, plays a fundamental role in the culture of every population in the world, given its importance to the health of each individual. Healthy nutritional practice and correct eating behaviors are useful to achieve optimal growth and development of the youngest and to promote better lifestyle. Recently, also as a result of the Covid experience, there is a growing interest in the use of digital technologies to promote health and physical-food wellness: studies have shown that Serious Games (SGs) can promote healthier behaviors by discouraging sedentary lifestyles and influencing eating habits. The project "Atalante” (Activating innovative Teaching And Learning practices Addressing Needs and gaming Tools in food Education) – as part of the Erasmus+ Higher Education Program - aims to provide teachers-in-training with innovative tools for the transmission of good nutritional practices at school through a package of interdisciplinary mini-MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) translated into different languages, and an Serious Game on MOOC-specific content, to be set up equally as an open and free resource. This paper aims, therefore, to describe pedagogical processes and tools involved in the nutritional education of the youngest, and illustrate the steps related to the planning of the project itself, detailing theoretical background, needs analysis and expected results, fulfilling the preliminary dissemination of the same, as per the guidelines of the ERASMUS+ framework.