Showing papers by "Tonia Gray published in 2007"

Less means more when it comes to fear appeals and teenage drivers

Abstract: Existing road safety campaigns, while effective for many age groups, have failed to inoculate young drivers. The authors are seeking to address this anomaly by accessing recalcitrant drivers within the tertiary student population. The project has two main aims: first to investigate whether involvement in the creation of road safety messages can improve the attitudes and behavioural intentions of students involved in the study; and second, to identify creative solutions that might encourage prophylactic practices among novice drivers. This builds on a previous paper on teenagers’ responses to road safety advertising and analyses a range of integrated campaigns produced by novice drivers during an action learning project. The results provide important policy insights, including alternatives to the current (and questionable) use of fear appeals to motivate behavioural change among young drivers. Introduction Risk taking behaviour is endemic within the adolescent population, be it unprotected sex that may lead to HIV/AIDS, drug taking or aberrant driving behaviours (Gray & Patterson, 1995, Lightfoot, 1997, Ponton, 1997). As road trauma is one of the most likely causes of death for adolescents (Stevenson, 2005), this paper focuses on antisocial driving behaviours in the early driving group, and how they might be countered with more effective communication strategies. From comparative statistical analyses a disturbing trend emerges: young drivers represent only 15% of the Australian driving population, but 27% of fatal road injuries, and 26% of hospitalisations involve drivers aged 17 to 25 (Stevenson, 2005). Similar figures hold for New Zealand, where 15-25 year old drivers were responsible for nearly 29% of the fatal and serious injury crashes in 2005 (New Zealand Ministry of Transport, 2007). Analysis of road safety campaigns reveals a prevalence of fear-based creative concepts and graphic television commercials, and yet fear-based campaigns have been shown to be less effective on the early driving group than other driver population groups. The sense of impunity among novice drivers is so great it inoculates them against most fear-based advertising (Zuckerman, 2000). Australian Transport Accident Commission (TAC) figures show that in Victoria P-Plate drivers are four times more likely to be killed while driving than any other driving group (TAC, 2004). This paper argues that a better understanding of the target audience can provide insights into the best strategies to encourage safer driving. Therefore, a case study was designed as an undergraduate group assessment task within two Australian universities. This allowed the researchers to gain access to at-risk drivers and seek their insights into the development of viable integrated marketing communication campaigns. The authors collaborated with their students to examine why novice drivers have proven impervious to most driver education campaigns, and to encourage students to develop creative solutions.

Capturing the Complex Nature of Learning to Teach in the Outdoors: A Case Study

Abstract: This paper introduces a research methodology designed to capture the complexities of learning to teach outdoor education Theories ranging from teacher education, adventure education and experiential education have guided the development of the study The purpose of this paper is to explain a research methodology which has been applied to an outdoor setting The paper begins with a brief overview of the context of outdoor teacher education in Australia and provides a description of the research methods used within the case study The paper highlights the need for further research on preservice outdoor teacher pedagogical practices in order to support their professional growth Disciplines Business | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details This conference paper was originally published as Philpott, T & Gray, T, Capturing the complex nature of learning to teach in the outdoors, AARE 2007 International Education Research Conference Freemantle, 2008 This conference paper is available at Research Online: http://rouoweduau/commpapers/483 PHI07594 Capturing the Complex Nature of Learning to Teach in the Outdoors: A Case Study Terri-Anne Philpott Monash University