Effective science communication to children via a health-related Web site

Abstract

This study assesses one Web site, Veggie-mon.org. This Web site aims to effectively communciate health information to children, resulting in user learning and an intent to change health behavior. Fourth- through eighth-grade pupils were interviewed before and after perusing the Web site for up to 20 minutes, and then they participated in focus groups. A majority of participants learned what the Web site was about, had previous health knowledge reinforced, discovered new health information, and said it made a difference in their health choices. Readability tests performed on seven text passages on the site indicated seventh- and eighth-grade reading levels, which is too high for the majority of the targeted audience.