Recall of farm hazards in Australian primary school age children using a 3-d visual cue test

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the 'Spot the Hazard' farm safety resource which employs 3-D visual stimuli to develop rudimentary risk assessment skills in children. Primary school children from three local schools in north-west New South Wales were presented with the resource and talked about the farm hazards present. Children's recall of the hazards and the extent to which they compared the resource to their own farm was assessed after an initial presentation at post-tests of 1, 14 and 28 days, across three experimental groups. Individual differences in achievement were controlled for using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Screener (WIAT). Analysis revealed that children exposed to the resource recalled significantly more hazards and made more comparisons to their own farm experiences than controls. However, differences on individual achievement were observed between groups due to a lack of randomisation. Farm safety educational resources for children are more effective when verbal and nonverbal strategies are used and when children are exposed to such cues repeatedly. The development of farm safety educational resources for children which employ spatial cues is encouraged. Further clarification of results would entail a more rigorous randomised control trial.