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Schools urged to try out safety game at USC
Schools on the Sunshine Coast now have a great new resource available to help teach young students about personal safety.
It is an online computer game, Being Safety Smart, which was created by University of the Sunshine Coast academic Dr Christian Jones to give children aged 6-8 strategies to avoid being abducted.
The safety awareness game has been funded by the Queensland Police Service and backed by Education Queensland and The Daniel Morcombe Foundation. It is being trialled on the Sunshine Coast before a likely state-wide release.
Being Safety Smart is currently on display as one of two exhibitions that opened at the University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery recently.
Gallery Curator Dawn Oelrich said parents, teachers and school groups were encouraged to try out the game online at the gallery during the exhibition which will continue until 21 March.
Schools can arrange class tours of the exhibition by contacting Ms Oelrich on 5459 4633.
The Being Safety Smart exhibition was officially opened on 19 February by Queensland Police Service (QPS) Regional Crime Prevention Coordinator Senior Sergeant Tony Sinn.
The opening event also featured a presentation by Dr Jones, who is a Senior Lecturer in Interactive Digi-Media at USC.
“Being Safety Smart is designed to raise the awareness of children to situations which might impact on their personal safety,” Dr Jones said. “It is designed to give them strategies to act appropriately and with confidence.”
Ms Oelrich said the second exhibition on display at the gallery, NoWhere … NowHere, was presented by a community group called the NoWhere Art Group.
“This is a group of Sunshine Coast artists who present new media, stencil and street art that does not vandalise property,” she said.
The USC Gallery, located at the University campus on Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs, is open to the public from 10am to 4pm Monday to Saturday. The Gallery is closed Sundays and public holidays.
— Terry Walsh