The Effect of a Mobile Application on Fire Safety Education

摘要

The lack of knowledge about fire safety is a growing concern in our country. The National Fire Protection Agency surveys have shown that about 75% of Americans claim to have a home evacuation plan. However, more than half of those families cannot attest to practicing by means of a home fire drill. To better inform families of this important issue, the implementation of a fire safety application is proposed. This research was aimed at the creation of a mobile application to aid families in forming a fire escape plan, and informing them of the dangers of house fires, and focused on the creation of the first “Flash cards” section. It was hypothesized that the in-app flash cards would prove more beneficial in helping students to learn than traditional paper flash cards. The app was first developed through Apple’s XCode platform. Students were then tested with the digital flashcards and paper flashcards to see which was more effective. A two-sample t-test showed that the difference in quiz scores between the control group (n = 15, M = 1.40, SD = 1.12) and the experimental group (n = 15, M = 0.8, SD = 1.37) were not statistically significant, (t(6) = -1.31, p = 0.89). This concludes that the null hypothesis is supported, and it is suggested that there was no significant difference between the use of the app and the cards.