Differences between the Grade of Children in Road-Crossing Behavior in Learning Setting

Abstract

This study investigated differences between the grade of children in road-crossing behavior when they were trained for acquiring road-crossing skills.　Two hundred and two children aged 6 to 10 participated in this study.　All children were asked to observe a good performance of road crossing as shown by an instructor at a T-shaped intersection with bad visibility on the right side, made in the school playground or gymnasium.　The children were also required to cross the road at the intersection by following the instructor’s model.　Children’s crossing behavior was recorded individually by video cameras and analyzed in each grade of a primary school.　The results showed that the first and second grade children aged 6 to 8 did not look more a longer time than the third and fourth ones aged in 8 to 10, and only 34% of the first grade could cross the road when they recognized that there was no simulated vehicle near the intersection.　Children in the first and third grades of primary school did not tend to look around over and over again.　The findings are discussed in terms of effective learning for younger children to acquire road crossing skills.