Interactional Instruction in the Teaching of Driver Education

About the report:

This project was designed to test both the short-term (through the use of standardized tests) and long-term (by an analysis of subsequent driving records) effects of small group interaction sessions on the driving attitudes and behavior of high school students learning to drive. Two classes of high school students were randomly selected. Each was split and matched according to school grades, ability test scores, achievement test scores, social status, and age. This procedure produced two experimental and two control groups, one each was female and one each male. The McGuire Safe Driver Scale, the Henderson & Cole Cartoon Reaction Scale, and a Behavior Grid were administered to all four groups in both pre-tests and post-tests. The short term-results, control vs. experimental group, and pre- vs. post-test results, did not indicate that the experimental approach to driver education was superior to the traditional method of teaching driver education. The results of t tests showed no statistically significant differences in the scores of the experimental and the control groups on the McGuire and the Cartoon Scales. There also were no significant differences between the pre- and post-test scores on these scales. A correlation study was performed between the McGuire and Cartoon Scales for each of the samples included in the study. It should be noted that there does not appear to be a significant positive correlation between the scores from these two tests.

Authors