the design, development and evaluation of the educational software of ...

THE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE OF ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION “THE CHARIOT OF THE SUN” George Koutromanos National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece [email protected]

Abstract Information Communication Technology has become an integral part of road safety education, yet there have been few studies exploring the use of multimedia technology in the prevention of road accidents, especially targeting children. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate educational software for the primary prevention of road accidents among a population of children. An interactive educational software, named “The Chariot of the Sun”, was developed and then pilot-tested in a number of public elementary schools in Athens of Greece. This software was developed through seven stages on the basis of learning theories and empirical research findings. Keywords: ICT, educational software, design, evaluation, road safety education

1 INTRODUCTION According to WHO [1], road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death by injury, the eleventh leading cause of all deaths and the ninth leading contributor to the burden of disease worldwide. Each year 1.2 million men, women and children around the world lose their lives as a result of road traffic collisions. Hundreds of thousands more are injured on the world’s roads, some of whom become permanently disabled [2]; [3]; [4]. Road traffic accidents in Greece are one of the major problems of the public health sector and the first cause of death among the ages of 18-24 (see [5]; [6]). The causes of traffic accidents are multiple [4]; [7]. They occur due to a variety of factors – human failings, the physical condition and design features of the road, and the condition of the vehicles. Human error is a major element: speeding, drunk driving, risk-taking, poor driving skills, overloaded vehicles, poor safety measures (such as seat-belts or helmets), and ignoring of traffic regulations all take their toll. Poor road safety awareness and knowledge on the part of pedestrians and cyclists is another major problem. Road safety education can be used as a tool in a systematic approach to road accident prevention. Human error is a major contributory factor in road accidents, and road safety education directly aims to influence the road user by changing his knowledge, attitudes and behaviour (see [8]; [9]; [10]; [11]). In Greece, as well as in other countries, most road safety education takes place in the classroom. Classroom teaching usually takes the form of talks from teachers, possibly supplemented by slides, or a video and by some printed materials (e.g. books, posters, diaries, pictures) (see [12]; [13]). However, on the basis of a literature survey, Rothengatter [14] and Thomson et al., [13] concluded that children do not profit from road safety education, if it is limited to classroom activities. Most specifically, problems exist with many widely used traditional methods of road safety education. According to Thomson et al. [13], classroom instruction by purely verbal means is a poor way to teach road safety education. “At best, such teaching may improve children’s knowledge about road safety. Unfortunately, such knowledge does not seem to generalise to behaviour in the traffic environment” (p. 42). In addition, the results of many studies have shown that printed materials such as books and posters provide little support for its effectiveness on children’s behaviour (e.g. [12]; [13]). In contrast, behavioural training involving behaviour modification techniques and principles of modeling prove to be effective, in particular when this training is carried out in the traffic environment ([13]; [14]; [15]; [16]). Although practical training is often recommended as the most effective method for acquiring behaviour patterns, it appears however difficult to apply in schools. In most schools it is not realistic to expect teachers to take the pupils outdoors for traffic training, on either legal, time, or class size grounds. In addition, previous studies have indicated that although teachers may be highly motivated to take part in traffic education programmes for their pupils in real traffic environment, they

Proceedings of EDULEARN09 Conference. 6th-8th July 2009, Barcelona, Spain.

ISBN:978-84-612-9802-0 005806

are very limited in their didactic possibilities. In other words this approach appears difficult to apply to teachers without prior training [13]; [14]. On the other hand, the possibilities provided by new multimedia technology, combined with contemporary theories about learning, such as the theory of constructivism, have opened up new design opportunities for educational programmes of road safety education [17]. Most specifically, the multimedia technology has the potential to offer many benefits, including improved quality of learning, wider access, greater flexibility for students and teachers, and effectively engaging students’ interest (e.g. [18]). Although there are many educational software for road safety education available (e.g. [17]; [19]; [20]; [21]; [22]; [23]), however, there are few studies exploring the design, use and evaluation of multimedia technology in the prevention of road accidents, especially those targeting children (e.g. [24]). The aim of this paper is to present the methodology of design, development and evaluation of the educational software “The Chariot of the Sun” for the primary prevention of road accidents among a youth population. This educational software was developed by the author of this study. It was aimed at a target group of 8-13 year-olds and was intended to provide Greek teachers and students with information, interaction and activities to stimulate learning about road safety. “The Chariot of the Sun” includes three main parts to raise road safety awareness, enhance knowledge regarding street signs, influence pupils’ attitudes and behaviours and to provide opportunities to integrate road safety into the curriculum of primary and secondary education.

2 METHOD A review of some different software development methodologies for multimedia development was conducted in order to find the most appropriate methodology for the design, development and evaluation of the educational software of this study. Among the models that were studied and were considered appropriate were the “Waterfall Model” and the “Incremental Prototyping Model” (see [25]). In addition, a literature review regarding the methodologies of development of educational programmes of road safety education was conducted. The above resulted in the creation of a model, specifically for the educational software “The Chariot of the Sun”. This model is presented in Figure 1. This software was developed through seven stages on the basis of learning theories and empirical research findings. These stages are presented in the following sections.

Problem analysis

Curriculum analysis

Design of content and interface

Development and prototype

Formative

Summative

evaluation

evaluation

Theories of learning

Figure 1. The design, development and evaluation model of the educational software of road safety education “The Chariot of the Sun”.

2.1 Stage 1: The problem analysis The problem analysis of road accidents (see [9]; [26]) was the first methodological approach in the design and development of “The Chariot of the Sun” in order to identify the target groups which are intended to benefit from the use of it. Most specifically, the aim of the problem analysis was to identify:

005807

a) The groups of traffic participants that are particularly at risk; b) The types of traffic participation that result in a high level of accident involvement and the groups in the population for which this is most notable; and c) the conditions and situations that lead to traffic accidents for specific groups of traffic participants and types of traffic participation. The problem analysis was formed by the study of accident data and of an analysis of available data concerning knowledge, behaviour and attitudes of the selected target group. Then a systematic literature review was carried out concerning child traffic accidents. In addition, interviews and questionnaires were used in order to obtain detailed information about the opinions of 170 parents, 12 teachers and 9 pupils of the various aspects of pupils’ road safety education (i.e. attitudes towards road safety education) as well as various aspects of the programme under development. Finally, the Greek Highway Code was studied in order to identify parts which could be included in the content of the educational software.

2.2 Stage 2: Curriculum and teaching analysis Stage 2 was the curriculum and teaching analysis (see [27]). The purpose of this stage was: a) to describe the inadequacies or the insufficiencies of the current curriculum regarding road safety education, with particular attention to the shortfall in student learning; and b) to describe and justify the teaching/learning assessment process likely to bring about the desired learning outcome (i.e. knowledge, attitudes, behaviour) in regard to road safety education. The first step of this stage was the literature review in order to identify the factors that influence the teaching of road safety education in schools and to examine the influence of the current teaching methods of road safety education on pupils’ knowledge, attitudes and road behaviour. The second step of this stage was the study of the Greek curriculum and books regarding the contents of road safety education as well as the study of the policy of the Ministry of Education regarding the prevention of traffic accidents through the educational system. The third step of this stage included visits to schools for the observation of road safety education lessons. In addition, data were collected though questionnaires and interviews from five road safety officers, 27 head teachers, 88 teachers, 96 pupils and 33 parents in order to identify their opinions regarding the contents of road safety education which can be included in the design of the educational software “The Chariot of the Sun”.

2.3 Stage 3: Theories of learning One of the disadvantages of many teaching methods in road safety education was the passive role of pupils. According to Thomson et al. [13] “teachers using traditional instruction methods present information as if the class was homogeneous with respect to their skills, ability and motivation. They often have little time to interact with individual children and facilitate learning because of the need to manage behaviour and maintain discipline” (p. 97). In order to avoid this passive situation in the educational software “The Chariot of the Sun”, the interactive learning was decided to be adopted. Stage 3 aimed to study the theories of learning in order to find the most appropriate characteristics of the theories of learning, which could create an interactive learning environment. Most specifically, the design of the educational software was based on the constructivist theory and mainly on the work of Piaget and Vygotsky [28]; [29]; [30]. The literature review has suggested that both Piagetian notions of conflict and coordination and Vygotskian ideas of construction in the zone of proximal development are implicated in interactive learning. Therefore, the following characteristics were decided to be adopted in the pedagogical design of “The Chariot of the Sun”: 2.3.1 Peer tutoring Peer tutoring refers to a dyadic interaction in which one partner, who is the more component, tutors the other, less component partner. The asymmetry of this relationship meets the basic condition required by Vygotsky for establishing the zone of proximal development [13]. 2.3.2 Peer collaboration Peer collaboration refers to a situation in which the interaction between peers involves individuals working together to establish a joint solution to a specified problem [13]. 2.3.3 Project-based learning Project-based learning is an instructional method centred on the learner. It allows students to work in groups or by themselves and allows them to come up with ideas and realistic solutions or

005808

presentations. Students take a problem and apply it to a real life situation with these projects. Most specifically, students pursue solutions to nontrivial problems by asking and refining questions, debating ideas, making predictions, designing plans and/or experiments, collecting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, communicating their ideas and findings to others, asking new questions, creating artefacts (see [31]). 2.3.4 Cross curricular teaching Cross-curricular teaching is characterised by thematic units, offering the teacher flexibility over a period of time in terms of adopting a strict content-based or more global timetable of lessons [32]. The results of the previous three stages formed the content and the interface of the software in Stage 4.

2.4 Stage 4: Design of content and interface The results of the analysis of road accidents’ problems (see Stage 1) showed that the ages mostly in need of help in the education of road safety are those between 8 and 13 years old. At those ages, children though they know enough about road safety, they adopt, however, wrong attitudes towards various road behaviours (such as seat-belts or helmets). This problem is greater in urban and suburban areas of Greece. Therefore, the content of the software was designed not only in order to increase students’ knowledge but mainly to help them formulate positive attitudes towards road safety as well as a proper road behaviour. In addition, the results of the curriculum and teaching analysis showed that the best way to teach road safety education to children of those ages is through the cross curricular approach, the active participation of students, and the development of project based activities for dealing with problems related to their real life road environment. Hence, the content of the software was designed based on the above mentioned characteristics.

Figure 2. The navigation screen of “The Chariot of the Sun”. The navigation design of “The Chariot of the Sun” was based on the concentric model (see Figure 2). According to Phillips [25], this model of navigation can be used to foster a constructivist environment, because it avoids the implicit directionality of the various linear and hierarchical structures. “The concentric model need not necessarily imply a starting point: the user can start anywhere” (p. 70). In the educational software “The Chariot of the Sun”, the content is represented by using stories, images and videos, according to characteristics of the users. Images and videos attract users’ attention, stimulate their interest, motivate them to solve the suggested exercises and assist them in acquiring the presented information. Except for images and videos, the educational software also includes animation, sounds and narrations, which have the purpose to facilitate the user’s learning process.

2.5. Stage 5: Development and prototype In Stage 5 the development of a first version (i.e. a prototype) of the educational software “The Chariot of the Sun” began. In order to develop the software, the Macromedia Director 8.0 Shockwave Studio was used. The Director combines graphics, sound, animation, text, video and multiuser technology with rich interactivity to create content that is easy to deploy as Shockwave content for the Web, or as multimedia for CD-ROM and DVD-ROM. This first version was improved in Stage 6, by formative evaluation.

005809

2.6 Stage 6: Formative evaluation The aim of this evaluation was to gather empirical information that was used to design and redesign the educational software of road safety education “The Chariot of the Sun”. The aims of this evaluation were: 1) to identify the problems of usability of the educational software; 2) to investigate the level of quality of the technical as well as to what extent these contribute to the achievement of pedagogical aims of the educational software; 3) to examine the perception of students about the content of the educational software; and 4) to examine to what extent does the educational software adopt the principles of the theory of constructivism that were demanded such as cross curricular teaching, peer collaboration teaching, project based activities. The evaluation was conducted in 5 phases. In this formative evaluation a great number of evaluators participated such as teachers, students, specialists in issues of road safety. The data were collected through discussions, questionnaires, interviews and observation. In each phase a different version of the software was developed. In the first phase, the scenario and the content of the educational software was evaluated. In the second phase the usability of the educational software was evaluated in compliance with the principles of Nielsen’s heuristic evaluation [37]; [38]; [39]; [36]; [41]. The third phase of the formative evaluation was aimed at the collective study of the techniques and pedagogical characteristics of the educational software but especially in the examination of the adequacy of the content consistency of the design according to the educational principles mentioned in Section 2.3. The forth phase involved the use of the software by a team of experts, educators and students in a laboratory. In the fifth phase of the evaluation a pilot implementation of the educational software came into effect in two classrooms of two primary schools for the duration of 1-2 months. The purpose of this phase was to examine the problems that occur from the use of the software in normal educational circumstances. Additionally, to ascertain possible problems that exists in the content and the interface of the software.

2.7 Stage 7: Summative evaluation Finally, in Stage 7, the summative evaluation was considered very important process, since it provided information about the outcomes of “The Chariot of the Sun” in terms of improvements in pupils’ traffic knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. In order to evaluate the software the Context, Interactions and Outcomes (CIAO!) framework was adopted [33]; [34]; [35]; [36]; [37]. According to this framework, context refers to a wide interpretation of the rationale for use of the software including the aims of the use. This includes considerations of questions such as how the educational software fits within the course, who uses it and whether it is used alone or in groups. Interactions refer to a consideration of ways of examining and documenting how students interact with computers and each other, focussing on the learning process. An outcome refers to a wide interpretation of the changes in students, which result as a consequence of using the programme. Restricting consideration of outcomes to cognitive ones is too limited as often other consequences emerge which need exploration. This means that learning outcomes still need to be considered but so also do changes in learners’ perceptions and attitudes. One aspect of measuring outcomes is the fact that it is very difficult to attribute learning outcomes to a particular use of educational software, when that is only one part of a multi-faceted experience of a course. Seventy two students (33 boys, 39 girls) from three primary schools were participated in the summative evaluation. In order to evaluate students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour (i.e. outcome) regarding their road safety education pre and post questionnaires, interviews were used. The interaction of students with the educational software and each other was measured by questionnaires, interviews and observation. In addition, data were collected from their teachers, head teachers and parents. The results of the summative evaluation were positive regarding students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. However, they are not presented in this paper.

3 DESCRIPTION OF THE THE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE OF ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION “THE CHARIOT OF THE SUN” 3.1 The aim of the educational software The aim of the software “The Chariot of the Sun” is to establish an educational framework through which a teacher would be able to teach road safety education in cross curricular way. This software will also encourage pupils to work according to the principles of peer collaboration as well as to

005810

implement a variety of educational activities and projects. The implementation of both educational activities and projects requires from the pupils to think and act critically in order to deal with the problems related to road safety issues of their area of residence. Regarding the educational outcomes from the implementation of this software it is mainly expected from the pupils to enrich their knowledge about the Greek Highway Code, to acquire positive attitudes towards road safety itself and to adopt a safe road behavior.

3.2 Target group The Chariot of the Sun was aimed at a target group of 8-13 year-old pupils. In addition, it was designed to be applicable to children in urban and sub-urban schools of Greece.

3.3 Place in the curriculum The educational software “The Chariot of the Sun” can be delivered using a cross curricular approach. Table 1 presents some examples of this approach. Table 1 – Examples of cross curricular activities of the educational software for road safety education “The Chariot of the Sun” Modern Greek Language: The possibility of reading literary texts with or without narration, analysis of their content. Commenting of episodes (video), food for dialog, exchanging of opinions. Written expression of ideas with the possibility of saving, printing and musical settings. Games of grammar. Writing and sending of mail. Communication via internet with other schools. Collection of newspaper articles about road accidents. Commenting of photographs, posters, timetables, phone cards about traffic accidents.

Mathematics: Study of graphs with statistics of road traffic accidents with the possibility of printing. Utilization of the internet by visiting websites for the selection and the study of statistics data of traffic accidents. Conduction of research in the surrounding road district about traffic accidents, selection codification, analysis and presentation of results in the classroom.

Social and Civil Education: Study of the most important articles of the Greek Highway Code. Road signs. Rights of pedestrians, passengers, drivers. The problems of sound pollution and traffic congestion that is created by vehicles. Politeness when travelling with public means of transport. Usefulness of emergency vehicles (e.g. of police, fire brigade). Consequences of accidents to the states economy.

Geography: Study of the problems of road safety education in the school district and the residence of the student. Study of the area map, recording of road safety problems on the map and suggestions of students for their (there is the option of incorporating the map into the software and placement, in the form of small sentences, of the problems on it, possibility of printing the map). Selection and study of geographic data and climatic conditions of the areas where even animals circulate as means of transportation History: Historic journey of the means of transportation from ancient times till today and the changes that have occurred. Study from the historical point of view of street names. Physical Education: Playing of different theatrical roles in the form of games.

Art: Creation of posters timetables, phone cards through the “Paint brush” programme which is incorporated in the software. Presentation with the option of music settings of indicative works of art from ancient times till today that have as their theme means of transport. Activities via philately, like the classification of stamps with the theme means of transport, study of stamps with the theme of road safety. Creation of road signs. Net of Information “The Chariot of the Sun” – Additional material: This part consists of opulent material (such as Greek and English bibliography, accident data, newspaper articles, maps, useful websites, abundant photographic material, the Greek Highway Code and all the road signs) with the purpose of helping the educator in the sufficient teaching of the above. Music: Option of choosing music extracts that suit the emotions of students during their navigation through the units of the software. Choice of 24 different sounds that we often encounter in our daily traffic environment.

Physics: Friction, reflection – diffraction of light.

005811

3.4 Content “The Chariot of the Sun” includes three main parts to raise road safety awareness, enhance knowledge regarding street signs, influence pupils’ attitudes and behaviours and to provide opportunities to integrate road safety into the curriculum of primary and secondary education. Those parts contain in total 267 activities. All of them are based on the concept of peer collaboration and cross curricular teaching as well as on the development of a variety of projects. All these activities seek to create an educational environment which will encourage the active involvement of pupils’ teams in teaching. What is meant by active involvement in teaching is an environment in which students ask, explain, comment, communicate, exchange opinions and information, support and control the precision of elements, argue and respond to different opinions, suppose, search, experiment and, finally, conclude to argued opinions, solutions and proposals. The first part of “The Chariot of the Sun” includes four stories which illustrate safe road behaviour for young users. All stories come from literary works. More specifically, a part from Rhapsody 18 of Homer’s Iliad (see Figure 3) was used, so that pupils would be able to familiarize themselves with the evolution of the means of transportation and the changes that have been made to them through time.

Figure 3. A part from Rhapsody 18 of Homer’s Iliad from “The Chariot of the Sun”. Having also in mind the advantages offered by child’s literature, stories from two such works: “The bicycle” by the Greek writer Antonis Samarakis and “Why donkeys disappeared” by the Bulgarian writer Dimiter Inkiof were also used. The stories from the first work aim to make pupils more sensitive in issues related to road accidents, especially to those caused by their own wrong road behaviour. The stories from second work aim first to present the pupils with all the advantages pending in our everyday life from the use of road vehicles and in addition to make them think of all negative effects of their use, such as noise, pollution, traffic problems and lack of free space for the pedestrians. Finally, in order for pupils to become both informed and sensitive to the tragic effects of road accidents in our society, articles from Greek newspapers are presented in which a variety of causes for road accidents are reported. The aim of all those previously mentioned is to create an incentive for the pupils to indulge in teamwork and cross curicullar activities. Some activities are proposed by the software itself while others can be developed in collaboration with the teacher either within the class or in the real road environment of their school’s area. In order to facilitate such initiations, each story or text, included in this software, includes six or seven activities that deal with topics such as: 1) the creation of posters, timetables, drawings, written texts and messages on road safety; 2) their involvement with philately and art; and 3) the orientation and the exploitation of charts. The second part of the educational software “The Chariot of the Sun” includes 48 video clips, which demonstrate factors affecting pedestrian, driver and passenger safety (see Figure 4). Some examples covered are: safe places to walk and play; busy roads and traffic problems; street signs; stop, look, listen, think; wearing seat belts; and safer places to cross busy roads. The pupils, in this part, have to discover in each video, the factors causing a road accident. In order to achieve this they have to approach all five activities existing in each video with peer collaboration.

005812

Figure 4. One of the 48 videos of “The Chariot of the Sun”. The first and second activity aims for each group of pupils, through discussion and written work, to find the reasons-factors that cause the road accident in each video. The third activity presents what the Greek Highway Code refers to; road accidents similar to those presented in the videos. Then pupils are asked to comment on the Greek Highway Code and to find ways for how this code can be applied by them in order to avoid road accidents such those presented in the videos. The fourth activity presents statistical data for road accidents caused by reasons-factors similar those that have been presented in each video included in the software. The pupils are then expected, after taking the graph as an incentive, to organize their own research. The research can take place either within their school or within the road environment of the area of residence by collecting their own data which will help them explain the reasons-factors responsible for road accidents. The aim of the 5th activity is to motivate pupils to design, for each of the 48 videos, small campaigns and cross curricular projects regarding traffic problems in their district, and to present their suggestions on how to solve them. The third part of “The Chariot of the Sun” seeks through a number Internet websites related to road safety, to prompt both students and their teachers to use the Internet effectively in road safety education. Finally, for the educational support for the teaching of this software, the section “Additional material” is incorporated. This material contains: the Greek Highway Code, all signals, accident data, organisations/institutions of road safety, articles of newspapers, bibliography, connections on the internet, maps, and many pictures from Greek roads. In addition, in order for the students and their teachers to be continuously informed, a web page was created containing updated material related to this software (see http://www.cc.uoa.gr/ptde/kykloforiaki/).

4 CONCLUSIONS In general, “The Chariot of the Sun” is a fully interactive package for pupils and teachers, and offers a variety of computer graphics, text, video clips, sound and animation. Furthermore, it provides many resources (e.g. pictures), teachers’ notes and suggests extended teaching activities. In order for teachers to use this educational software they need to adopt cooperative learning, cross curricular teaching and a project method in their teaching, at least, for one school year. The Chariot of the Sun is an educational programme that might have the potential to be used in other countries apart from Greece. However, it is at present available only in the Greek language and can, therefore, be applied to Greece, Cyprus and Greek communities abroad, such as those in England, Germany, the USA, South Africa and Australia. Furthermore, if this educational software is translated into English and other languages, it is envisaged that teachers and students of diverse cultures will benefit greatly.

5 REFERENCES [1] WHO (2004). World report on road traffic injury prevention. Available at http://www.who.int/worldhealth-day/2004/infomaterials/world_report/en/ Accessed 19 May 2009. [2] ECMT (1994). Road Safety Education for Young Children and Teenagers. Fourth Joint ECMT/Council of Europe Conference, 2-4 March, Strasbourg, France.

005813

[3] ETSC (1997). Transport accident costs and valuation of life. Brussels: European Transport Safety Council. [4] DUMAS (2000). The DUMAS Project, Developing Urban Management and Safety. Research Project. Brussels: DG VII, European Commission. [5] Research Committee of the Greek Parliament, 1996. Conclusions of the research committee of the Greek parliament for the road traffic accidents, Athens, Greece. [6] Chliaoutakis, El, J., Gnardellis, C., Drakou, I., Darvini, C. and Sboukis, V. (2000). Modelling the factors related to the seatbelt use by the young drivers of Athens. Accident Analysis and Prevention 32, 815-825. [7] DUMAS (1998). WP6 – Safety for pedestrians and two – wheelers. Final report. Italy. Available at http://www.trl.co.uk/dumas/wp6_final.pdf Accessed 16 July 2003. [8] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (1978). Special Research Group on Pedestrian Safety: Chairman’s Report and Report Sub Group II: Road Safety Education. Crowthorne: TRRL/OECD. [9] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (1983). Report prepared by an OECD scientific expert group: Traffic safety of children. France. [10] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (1986). Report prepared by an OECD scientific expert group: Effectiveness of road safety education programmes. France. [11] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (1998). Safety of Vulnerable Road Users. Scientific Expert Group on the Safety of Vulnerable Road Users (RS7). France. [12] Thomson, J. A. (1991). The Facts About Child Pedestrian Accidents. London, Cassell. [13] Thomson A. J., Tolmie, A., Foot C. H. & McLaren B. (1996). Child development and the aims of road safety education: a review and analysis. Road safety research report no. 1. Department of Psychology, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. [14] Rothengatter J. A. (1981). Traffic safety education for young children, an empirical approach. Swets and Zeitlinger B.V. – Lisse. [15] Ampofo-Boateng, K., & Thomson, J. A, Grive, R., Pitcairn, T., Lee, D. N. And Demetre, J. D. (1993). A development and training study of children’s ability to find safe routes to cross the road. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11, pp. 31-45. [16] Schagen, V. I. & Rothengatter, T. (1997). Children’s Road Safety. Classroom Instruction Versus Roadside Training in Traffic Safety Education. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 18, pp. 283-292. [17] Rowland, G., Wright, R. & Harper, B. (2004). Simulation of Multiple Perspectives in Road Safety Education. In L. Cantoni & C. McLoughlin (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2004 (pp. 1602-1608). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. [18] Sandholtz, J., Ringstaff, C., and Dwyer, D. (1997). Teaching with technology: Creating studentcentered classrooms. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University. [19] Alexander, P., O. (1893). Computers in Traffic Education. Computer Education, 43, pp. 16-17. [20] Alexander, P., O. (1893). Computers in Traffic Education-2. Computer Education, 45, pp. 2-3. [21] Alexander, P., O. (1893). Microcomputers in Traffic Education. Traffic Education, 9 (1), pp. 24-25. [22] Scottish Executive Central Research Unit (SECRU), (2000). The role of Information and Communications Technology in Road Safety Education. BITTER. [23] Liu, Z. (2006). Design of a Cartoon Game for Traffic Safety Education of Children in China, in Pan, Z., Aylett, R., Diener, H., Jin, S X., Gobel, S., Li, L. (Eds). Technologies for E-learning and Digital Entertainment, First international conference, Edutainment 2006, Hangzhou, China, April 16-19, 2006. Proceedings Berlin: Springer, 2006 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3942), pp. 589-592. [24] Tolmie, J. A., Thomson, J. Foot, H. Whelan, K., Sarvary, P. & Morrison, S. (2002). Development and evaluation of a computer-based pedestrian training recourse for children aged 5 to 11 years. Road Safety Research Report, No. 27. London, Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTRL). [25] Phillips, R. & Jenkins, N. (1997). The Developer’s Handbook to Interactive Multimedia. A practical Guide for Educational Applications. London: Kogan Page. [26] The World Bank (2001). The design and evaluation of road safety publicity campaigns. Available at http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/transport/roads/saf_docs/campaign.pdf Accessed 23 April 2003. [27] Phillips, R., Bainb, J., McNaught, C., Rice, M. & Tripp, D. (2000). Hanbook for Learning – centred Evaluation of Computer – facilitated Learning Projects in Higher Education. Murdoch University,

005814

Australia. Available at http://wwwtlc1.murdoch.edu.au/projects/cutsd99/ Accessed 1 November 2002. [28] Piaget, J. (1985). The Equilibration of Cognitive Structures. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [29] Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: M. I. T. Press. [30] Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. [31] Blumenfeld, P.C., Soloway, S., Marx, R.W., Krajcik, J.S., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist. 26(3 & 4), 369-398. [32] Morrison, K. (1994). Implementing Cross-curricular Themes. London, David Fulton Publishers. [33] Molich, R., & Nielsen, J. (1990). Improving a human-computer dialogue, Communications of the ACM 33, 3 (March), 338-348. [34] Nielsen, J., & Molich, R. (1990). Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces, Proc. ACM CHI'90 Conf. (Seattle, WA, 1-5 April), 249-256. [35] Nielsen, J. (1994). Enhancing the explanatory power of usability heuristics. Proc. ACM CHI'94 Conf. (Boston, MA, April 24-28), 152-158. [36] Nielsen, J. (1994). Heuristic evaluation. In Nielsen, J., and Mack, R.L. (Eds.), Usability Inspection Methods, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. [37] Jones, A., Scanlon, E., Tosunoglu, C., Butcher, P., Murphy, P. & Greenberg, J. (1996). Evaluating CAL at the Open University: 15 Years on. Computers and Education, 26 (13), pp. 5-15. [38] Jones, A., Tosunoglu, C., Scanlon, E. & Butcher, P. (1996). The Use and Evaluation of CAL at Home, Paper Presented at the Association for Learning Technology Conference ALT-C, Integrating Technology into the Curriculum, 16-18 September. [39] Scanlon, E., Tosunoglu, C., Jones, A.; Butcher, P., Ross, S. Greenberg, J. Taylor, J. & Murphy, P. (1998). Learning with Computers: Experiences of Evaluation. Computers and education, 30 (1/2), pp. 9-14. [40] Jones, A., Scanlon, E., Tosunoglu, C., Morris, E., Ross, S., Butcher, P. & Greenberg, J. (1999). Contexts for evaluating educational software. Interacting with Computers, 11, pp. 499-516. [41] Scanlon, E., Jones, A., Barnard, J., Thompson, J., & Calder, J. (2000). Evaluating information and communication technologies for learning. Educational Technology and Society, 3 (4). Available at http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_4_2000/scanlon.html Accessed 26 October 2002.

005815