Youth-Nex has awarded funding to four teams of researchers who will study a range of issues from how innovative school architecture can affect healthy eating to increasing bullying awareness through student video production.
This is the third time the center has seeded University faculty research promoting positive youth development in the past three years. Patrick Tolan, center director, said projects were also chosen because of their collaborative nature and potential for growth.
“We are already seeing external funding applications growing out of the first rounds. We think there is great potential for similar success from this excellent set of seed grants which also represent multidisciplinary efforts across U.Va.,” said Tolan.
The 2012 funded projects are:
"Impact of School Architecture on School Practices and Healthy Eating" 
(Project awards noted at right)
Researchers are working with architects to create a school environment that improves student well-being. Dr. Matthew Trowbridge of U.Va.’s Department of Emergency Medicine and Terry Huang of the University of Nebraska’s College of Public Health will evaluate whether innovations such as a teaching kitchen, soil lab and nutrition resource library will impact the eating behaviors of school children at Buckingham Elementary in Dillwyn.
The researchers collaborated with VMDO Architects of Charlottesville to develop a set of healthful eating guidelines for school architecture based on public health evidence and theory. The set of specifications call for innovations like kitchens conducive to preparing fresh and organic food; design that encourages relaxation and socialization at meal times; and signage and programming that reinforce nutrition education.
“We wanted to create optimal school environments to promote healthy eating behaviors,” Trowbridge said. “Opportunities to directly concentrate on children’s learning environments are long overdue in the fight against obesity, which has been a priority public health issue for 20 years. But prevention has met with only limited success.”
Funding will allow the researchers to evaluate application of the recommendations in a real-world environment for the first time at Buckingham Elementary this fall.
“School-based obesity prevention programs have received considerable attention, but the physical environment of the school has not,” Trowbridge said. “This also provides an opportunity to pilot the concept of linking obesity prevention to green buildings. This focus on the environment and policy-based intervention will be critical in making a significant impact on childhood obesity trends.”
To effectively implement these environmental components, the researchers and VMDO worked together as the school was rebuilt from the ground up. Maggie Thacker, VMDO’s director of marketing and business development, said that their objectives have been multifaceted. “Our goal is to embrace the whole child,” she said. “Environmental stewardship, eco-literacy, sustainable design, health and well-being, movement and activity – each of these educational opportunities are interwoven throughout the school’s interior and landscape, making a rich experience for students and teachers alike.”
Throughout the site, Thacker said, the school fosters teachable moments within the landscape, boasting walkable paths; vegetable, fruit and nut gardens; science garden labs; a composting station; and a “frog bog,” to name a few of the school’s features.
“There is a long history in developmental psychology research that the role of classroom design can impact social behaviors,” Trowbridge said. “This project takes well-established theoretical frameworks from these educational research fields and applies them to health promotion.”
Researchers hope the project will encourage teachers, staff and the community to engage more deeply in teaching children about healthful food and eating. They also hope to inspire more collaboration of this type.
“It’s an amazing building and it’s an incredibly positive statement of hope and investment for kids in this rural school district who typically haven’t received this kind of support,” Trowbridge said. “Youth-Nex has allowed for a real-world implementation and evaluation of these highly collaborative and cutting-edge guidelines.”
[The researchers entered their project in a childhood obesity competition sponsored by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. To cast your vote, visit "Seeking Solutions for Healthier Kids."]
VMDO Architects' Project Description
Co-Principal-Investigators:
Matthew Trowbridge, MD, MPF - University of Virginia, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine;
Terry T-K Huang, Ph.D., MPH - Professor and Chair, Department of Health Promotion & Social and Behavioral Health, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center
"Promoting Positive Youth Development Through Homegrown Video Production"
Michael Kennedy, an assistant professor at the Curry School, will instruct and guide students to produce their own videos on bullying prevention. He hopes to help students at Charlottesville area schools both understand themselves, and understand themselves as agents of change. Kennedy also he hopes the students will progress in the "5C's" of Positive Youth Development — Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring.
"We hypothesize that if we get that movement toward greater understanding,... in caring competency and the rest of the C’s, it will be captured on video because the medium is so powerful." Kennedy, an educator and a filmmaker, ultimately also predicts a change in the students' understanding of bullying. "A more sophisticated video shows deeper understanding of the issue," he said. “when students make progress in each of the 5 C's, it can result in a 6th C — 'Contribution.'”
Co-Principal Investigators:
Michael J. Kennedy, University of Virginia, Curry School of Education;
Dewey G. Cornell, University of Virginia, Curry School of Education
"Engaging Students in Environmental Service: Development and Early Phase Research on a Community Service Learning Intervention".jpg)
When educators Sara Rimm-Kaufman and Eileen Merritt had the realization that kids were eager to be engaged in important problems outside of school, they devised a plan to take them outdoors.
The researchers will work with a group of middle-schoolers at Albemarle County’s Community Public Charter School tackle a local environmental problem selected by the students.
“Many students do not have opportunities to spend time outdoors engaged in solving real-world problems,” said Merritt, whose career has focused on helping connect students with nature.
The goal will be to increase the children’s interest in science, knowledge of the environment and civic engagement through participation in a community service-learning project, Rimm-Kaufman said. Additional expertise in planning the curricula will come from Karen McGlathery, an environmental scientist in the College of Arts & Sciences.
“We want students to choose from a set of environmentally oriented projects and engage in those projects with supportive adults, and see the link between their actions and a change in their community,” Rimm-Kaufman said. One idea is to help provide a natural buffer between pollutants from an airport runway and the nearby Rivanna River.
Ashby Kindler, the principal of the charter school, and science teacher Kathryn Durkee will also collaborate.
According to Rimm-Kaufman, “This grant aligns well with the school’s mission to reach students who may be disengaged from school and help them become independent thinkers, problem-solvers and active citizens.”
Principal Investigator:
Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman, Associate Professor of Education, University of Virginia, Curry School of Education
Co-Investigator:
Eileen Merritt, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Virginia, Curry School of Education
"Understanding and Supporting Safe Driving of ADHD Teenagers with Auditory Feedback"
A systems engineer and cognitive behavioral therapist are combining efforts to design a tool that mitigates driving distraction through a Wii-like device that tracks eye, body, and head movement. Drs. Lau and Cox will seek to help adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to drive safely by creating a negative feedback loop that detects driver distraction.
Lau, from the University of Virginia's Department of Systems and Information Engineering, said that research in psychology, engineering and driving alone have contributed much independently, but the areas are not well integrated. There is also a lot of research being done on distraction, he said, but not much on device building. He envisions a time when we are not relying on medication for these youth.
"This is an opportunity to collaborate to see if you can develop a tool or refine a tool through innovation. We can be a bridge between what psychologists know and how engineers use technology," he said.
According to Lau, there are alarms to help truck drivers stay alert but there aren’t tools to help youth and specifically ADHD drivers. "The trick is also not to be too intrusive or annoying," said Lau.
Principal Investigator:
Nathan Ka Ching Lau, University of Virginia, Senior Scientist, Systems and Information Engineering, Systems Engineering
Co-Principal Investigator:
Daniel J. Cox, University of Virginia, Professor Departments of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, Internal Medicine, and Ophthalmology
Related Media: Project Wins 2012 Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects (VSAIA) Prize for Design and Scholarship Award; UVA Today. Award
