Gao presents at exergaming conference

GaoZ-prefDr. Zan Gao, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Lab (PAEL), presented, “The Role of Exergaming in Contributing to Children’s Daily Physical Activity Levels” at 2014 The Games for Increasing Physical Activity conference in Houston, TX. The purpose of this conference is to identify best practices and research needed to develop a new generation of exergames that meaningfully increase physical activity. The conference brought together video game designers, epidemiologists, kinesiologists, and behavioral and communication scientists to analyze exergaming with an eye toward developing best practices and identifying needed research for increasing physical activity. In-depth discussions were held on what is known about how exergames influence behavior, what are current exergame best practices for increasing physical activity, and what additional research is needed to move this field forward.