Zan Gao, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and Director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Lab, has received a one-year, $370,000 research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to study exergaming play among preschool children.

The project is entitled “Trial of Exergaming Activities on Cognition and Health in Preschoolers – Project TEACH”. It is designed to examine the impact of a child-led and instructor-supervised exergaming intervention in promoting preschool children’s physical activity levels, fitness, movement skills and cognition, compared to a traditional usual care control program at four schools in Minnesota. Gao and his research team will initiate the research project in fall of 2016.