LEARN! Manual Example #15
This example shows the involvement of different actors during the pre-testing of a children’s book on road safety.
Related Step
Pre-Testing
Age Group
5 to 8 year olds
Knight Eugene is the road safety hero for kindergarten and primary school pupils in Greece. He was born after a survey held by Responsible Young Drivers “Courtesy on the Road” in 2008, which showed that the Greeks are the most aggressive and rude drivers in Europe.
The Road Safety Institute (RSI) “Panos Mylonas” had the idea to propose a hero who, on the one hand, would model appropriate behaviour on the road (Eugene in Greek means a courteous man), and on the other would teach children essential skills and knowledge in order to stay safe as road users. Pupils would read the story of Eugene, sign a promise to respect other road users as well as the traffic code, and after completing some trials (road safety quizzes) also become “knights” and crusade for road safety by transferring the knowledge to peers and adults.
The book was developed by the RSI team in collaboration with experts, teachers, and psychologists. When the book was at the final stages of development, a mock-up version was sent to teachers of kindergartens and early primary school years in the RSI’s network of schools. Teachers were asked to read the book and use it in their class in order to provide feedback concerning the storyline, the discussions and messages provided, the language used, the level of difficulty of the quizzes, as well as to answer whether the cartoon hero was well accepted by the children. Teachers’ feedback proved useful for the final version of the book as well as the design of the cartoon.
Moreover, the book was sent to a developmental psychology expert at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for further feedback on whether the material would be appropriate to the developmental stage of the pupils. Minor issues were identified and subsequently addressed.