In search of effective education in burn and fire prevention.

Children younger than 14 years continue to be a high-risk group for burn-related and fire-related injuries. Burn and fire educators must find a way to reach these children that captures their imaginations. There may be no better way than games. Two burn and fire prevention games were developed. The games were distributed to 38 school districts encompassing a total of 164 elementary schools and reaching more than 1,035 youngsters in grades 1 through 4 in a two-county community. Before playing each game, the participants completed a multichoice pretest. A similar posttest was administered after gaming to determine mastery and retention of knowledge. In addition, classroom instructors were given an evaluation form to assess content, quality, and effectiveness. Pretest and posttest results indicated students gained and retained significant knowledge. Instructor evaluation recognized these games as entertaining and exciting, precipitating additional questions leading to further classroom discussion and learning.