The use of multimedia, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Environment (VE) in enhancing children's understanding of road safety

Road accident statistics gathered over the past years by the Malaysian Institute Of Road Safety Research (MIROS) reveal a significantly high degree of fatalities and injuries involving children. Realizing the importance of road safety amongst school children, the Ministry of Education of Malaysia has introduced road safety education into the primary schools in stages, beginning with Year One in 2008. The curriculum has been incorporated into the existing Malay Language classes. It is aim is to educate children and young people on safety knowledge and skills, and help to shape good attitudes as road users. Currently, the teaching of road safety in schools is still based on conventional method (chalk and talk) without practical approach and specific schedule. With the limitations that exist in the current teaching approach, this paper aims to introduce an alternative new learning approach for road safety education. It is based on the use of a courseware utilizing mixed learning environments which combines interactive multimedia, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Environment (VE) technologies. This paper starts with the introduction, follows with the literature review, research methodology and ends with a conclusion. Hopefully, the proposed courseware will be able to provide a solution to the issue of Road Safety Education in Malaysia.