Fire Safety for kids

The Short Burst Learning™ Company is preparing the release of their latest interactive learning product. The goals of the Fire Safety For Kids DVD is to provide fire prevention and safety instruction to children and their parents in an enlightening and memorable manner.

The Short Burst Learning Company (SBL) would like to increase the level of fire safety awareness in a meaningful and significant way that reduces incidences of injury or death due to fire- related causes by creating a fire instructional production for primary school children. The target audience for the video is primary school-aged children and their parents. The demographics of primary school aged children are grades one through four, equating to approximately ages five through ten. Their parents could range in age from twenty to fifty. It is important to target both audiences because parents influence what their children watch and learn. The psychographics of children primarily involve education and the psychographics learned by parental influence. The education level of the children in this target audience is first through fourth grades, which incorporates a wide range of reading levels, averaging at a second grade reading level. Each student also learns by their own learning style. Other psychographics, such as religion, morals, and values are directly impacted by their parents or guardians’. Their sense of what is right and wrong and their likelihood to act on these behaviors, for example, is a direct influence of their experiences with their parents.

To determine the best format to instruct primary school children, fire officials from across the nation have been contacted for interview. These professionals have helped to determine the content most important for this audience. Our product has shorter segments and fast-paced video elements that are most effective in reaching primary school age children and having the information retained. Graphics, humor, and sound effects also help to reinforce the messages and themes of the productions.

The design and format of the production is critical to capturing the attention of a primary school audience. To discover the most effective means of reaching and retaining the audience, fire officials and members of the Federal Emergency Management Association were contacted to find what messages are currently not getting across to children. Through a series of interviews it was found that there is a growing need to address fire play, and the serious regard which should be placed on teaching children unsafe fire behaviors. By distilling written information into an easy to remember format, the audience can quickly increase their knowledge in the subject of fire safety. By incorporating different learning styles and methods of relaying information, the production will be able to instruct a large audience. A national need has led to the production of an instructional program for primary school children and their parents to share together to learn about fire safety, thereby reducing the incidences of fire-related injury or death.

According to the United States Fire Administration, three thousand, nine hundred people lost their lives as a result of fire (http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/quickstats/). Each year in the United States an estimated 2,800 children age 14 or younger are injured and 850 killed in residential fires. Of these children, over 40 percent are under the age five, 70 percent are under the age of 10. Because the majority of fire casualties occur in children under the age of 10, there is a great need to instruct this target group about fire safety (http://www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/parents-teachers/about.shtm). The most effective way to increase the level of fire safety instruction to primary school-age children is by producing a television production for broadcast to reduce incidences of injury or death due to fire related causes.

In order to instruct primary school age children, several objectives must be met. The children must be able to recognize what is dangerous, and able to assess a dangerous situation. In a dangerous situation they must know what options they have, relying on learned behaviors. Families should have a fire safety plan which children learn which options are safest in times of emergencies. They must also learn how to plan ahead for emergencies, and be able to plan strategies to prevent fires from happening. Children would also benefit from knowing how to keep their family safe when there is danger. If these objections are met in an efficient manner tailored to the learning needs of the target audience, then the television production will be successful in reducing incidences of fire related injuries.

Identification of the target audiences has a strong influence on the rest of the communication steps. By correctly identifying the target audiences will help in determining the objectives and other communication strategies. Target audiences can include current and potential users and decision makers that have strong influence over the organization, individuals, community groups, the general publics, and stakeholders (Hiebert, Gibbons 2000, pg. ). In this instance, primary school – age children are not the only audience targeted, however their parents must also be targeted because of their influence on their children’s television watching. Primary school age children are active television viewers. According to Newton Minow, a former Federal Communications Commission chairman, wrote that by first grade, most American children have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of the TV set (Minow and Lamay, 1995, pg. ).

However how well do children understand and react to what they see on television? Media literacy in children, or their ability to ‘read’ and understand visual, aural and digital messages, is a large consideration when planning a video for instruction. Researching media literacy seeks to discover if children have the skills to understand what the view on television, and critically and knowledgeably analyze what they learn. There are four inter-related dimensions of media literacy. The first is cognitive literacy, understanding how the message was produced and the symbols it used to deliver the message. The next is emotional literacy, whether or not the child responds to “emotional cues” which trigger emotional responses from the audience. Media literacy is also determined by the child’s understand appreciation of “the craft of the creators of the media” in terms of aesthetic literacy. It also seeks to create a moral connection, determining the ability of the child to comprehend the values taught in the production (Burton 2005). Kindergarten through sixth grade English Coordinator and teacher- librarian, Charmayne Hodgman, is also a media literacy researcher who feels that children ages five through ten are media literate. She feels that television is a powerful medium for reaching television:

“I think the children are instantly engaged because it’s a medium they are comfortable with and I suppose the little thing you have to be aware of first is they kind of think it’s a bit of free down time, so you need to be explicit in why you are using the programs and what you are looking for. So you are spelling out to them that it isn’t just entertainment… They find it fascinating actually.” (Burton 2005). Children in this target demographic, according to Hodgman, are responsive to many editing methods, such as signs, symbols, graphics and animation (Burton 2005).

Television professionals have realized the possibilities of marketing programming toward a young audience. One of these possibilities is educating children through educational- informational feature programming. There are several theories of educational television. One approach is the growing theory, which is aimed at developing the audience and providing the information to grow in their own unique way. This theory is difficult to implement on television, however it is a process which involves personal change as the driving force of the production. The learning involved is internal and develops an aspect of one’s growing personality. Another approach is the traveling theory, which is seen as a ‘journey’ exploration, where the teacher provides some level of local knowledge but is also part of the learning. The teacher or presenter, here, is another explorer, learning alongside the viewer. The present introduces the audience to what is being learned, remaining open to new experiences and challenges which emerge from this introduction. The shaping theory involves molding the learner by following a predetermined practice of determination and repetition. On television, this is a regularly used method, often utilized in cooking programs. Behaviors are meant to be copied by the viewer. In the transfer theory, the goals are learning ‘facts’ of a situation and transferring information. This transfer generally occurs between an expert and a student. Here the delivery is a central concern, and considerable effort is placed on expanding the prepared material and deciding effective methods to transfer the information (Meyer 1997, pg. 88).

According to Ard Heuvelman, an audience researcher from the Netherlands Broadcasting Corporation, there are six reasons that people watch television. The first reason is to watch television to relax, or as a form of entertainment. The second is to watch children out of loneliness, using television as a companion. Often people watch television to pass the time, or to escape and forget about their daily problems. Heuvelman also says that people watch television for social reasons, to share experiences. However Heuvelman says that most people watch television as a source of information (Meyer 1997, pg. 123).

One study which examined children’s comprehension of educational content in a television program designed to be understood without meaningful dialogue. It measured the comprehension of material when the dialogue consisted only of nonsense language, allowing the opportunity to understand the information through visual and intonational cues. Some key English words and phrases were inserted among the nonsense dialogue. Visually concrete messages, such as cooperation, were better understood than those that were less tangible, such as honesty. However it was predicted that comprehension of educational content would increase with age. It was concluded that because the nonverbal clues in the segment were not used to construct meaning, if English phrases were added, comprehension would not change (Fisch, McCann, Cohen 2001). This study shows the importance of the role of visual items, making television the best media to instruct children.

There are several ways to utilize these theories into a television format for primary-school age children. Utilizing the shaping theory, the production should take a classroom approach, following a group of students as they learn about fire safety and experience a demonstrative trailer. This would allow the audience the opportunity to mimic the fire safe behaviors show in the video. Having a relatable pair of children from their target audience to mimic the behaviors would also be effective (Meyer 1997, pg. 88). “Children need to learn to discriminate between reality and fantasy in the media. Concepts that should be explored include cartoon characters, advertising stereotypes and real actors...” (Burton 2005). Characters that are realistic and relatable are the best strategy for reaching children. The traveling theory would be beneficial for audience members to take a trip to the fire station. Through the visual representation of a demonstrative trailer which simulates smoke and fire, the audience could also experience fire in a way that they could not safely experience in reality. This allows them to take a first hand approach and question themselves about what they would do if there was a fire emergency in their own home. Using the transfer theory, a fire official should be in the video to relay credible information to the audience (Meyer 1997, pg. 88).

Often a specific interest or a specific need for information will play a part in why a viewer watches a program, however most of the time the viewing motives is more general. The motives for watching educational or informative programs in general are driven by general curiosity, or a need for cognitive activity. Another reason is the need to reduce uncertainty, or gather information to solve a problem. This is called the “need for cognition”, or a need for enjoyment in mental effort (Meyer, 1997, pg. 122-123). Instructional television as it relates to target audience, primary school age children and their parents, is driven by the need to reduce the uncertainty and solve problems in emergency situations. In terms of demographics, the target audience of primary school aged children are grades one through four, equating to approximately ages five through ten. Who's parents could range in age from twenty to forty. The psychographics of children primarily involve education and the psychographics learned by parental influence. The education level of the children in my target audience is first through fourth grades, which incorporates a wide range of reading levels, averaging at a second grade reading level. Other psychographics, such as religion, morals, and values are directly impacted by their parents or guardians’. Their sense of what is right and wrong and their likelihood to act on these behaviors, for example, is a direct influence of their experiences with their parents. This is important on their television viewing because there are beneficial effects of adult mediation on children’s learning and attitudes. Several experiments have shown that an adult co-viewing a program with a child, and offers comments and interpretations of the content improves children’s learning from educational programs. In the experiments, subjects watched “Sesame Street” and “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood”, when viewed with an adult, the children better understood the characters and events in the program. It was concluded that children learn more from all programs, especially educational programs, when there is an adult mediator to watch the program and discuss it with the child. The adult mediation serves to help maintain the child’s attention to the program, and helping the child to understand the events which take place in the program (Kremar 2000).

It is with this understanding that the Short Burst Learning Company seeks to assemble a production that enables and promotes parent/Child training of Fire safe behavior and practices. Release of this product is scheduled for August 2006. To find out more about other Short Burst Learning products, visit us at shortburstlearning.com.

References
Baran, S. J. (1999). Introduction to Mass Communication. Moutainview, California: Mayfield Publishing Company.
Burton, L. (2005). What is This Media Literacy Thing?. Screen Education, 38, pg. 93 – 98. Retrieved October 11, 2005, from Ebsco Host Database.
Chater, K. (2002). Research for Media Production. Boston: Focal Press.
Fisch, S.; McCann Brown, S.; Cohen, D. (2001). Young Children’s Comprehension of Educational Television: the Role of Visual Information and Intonation. Media Psychology, 4, pg. 365 – 378. Retrieved October 11, 2005, from Ebsco Host Database.
Hiebert, R. E. and Gibbons, S. J. (2000). Exploring Mass Media for a Changing World. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Kremar, M. (2000, Fall). The Effect of an Educational/ Informational Rating on Children’s Attraction to and Learning from an Educational Program. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 4, pg 674 - 690. Retrieved October 11, 2005, from Ebsco Host Database.
Meyer, M. (1997). Educational Television: What Do People Want?. Munich, Germany: University of Luton Press. Minow, Newton, and Lamay, Craig. (1995). Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children Television and the First Amendment. New York: Hill & Wang.
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