Peer-reviewed article
Evaluation of a Curriculum-Based Elementary School BikeSafe Program.
Witte MM, Brady AD, Kim H, Liu T, Hotz GA ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study evaluated the BikeSafe Elementary School Curriculum, an off-bicycle safety program taught in physical education classes to children aged 7-11 in Miami-Dade County public schools. Students who participated showed significant improvements in bicycle safety knowledge, including better understanding of visibility, hand signals, and road environments. The program requires minimal equipment and can be integrated into existing school curricula, making it potentially scalable to other schools, particularly those serving underserved communities.
Key points
- Grades 2-3 improved assessment scores from 14.99 to 16.70 (p < 0.001); grades 4-5 from 21.80 to 23.32 (p < 0.001)
- Both age groups showed significant improvements in understanding visibility, hand signals, and built environment awareness
- BESC is an off-bicycle curriculum requiring minimal equipment, making it suitable for integration into school physical education programs
- The program is standards-aligned and designed for grades 2-5
- Study suggests BESC is scalable and particularly valuable for underserved or high-risk schools
Limitations
The study measured only knowledge gains, not actual behavioral changes or injury reduction. There was no comparison or control group, so we cannot determine whether knowledge gains are attributable to BESC versus other factors such as maturation or concurrent safety messaging.
Abstract
Background Children in urban areas face elevated risk for bicycle-related injuries, yet few evidence-based curricula address bicycle safety for elementary school physical education (P.E.) settings. Methods The BikeSafe Elementary School Curriculum (BESC) is an off-bicycle, standards-aligned program for grades 2-5. From August 2024 to May 2025, P.E. teachers at nine Miami-Dade County public elementary schools implemented the BESC with grades 2-3 (ages 7-8) and 4-5 (ages 9-11). Students completed pre-post assessments. McNemar's test evaluated pre-post changes for each question; the Wilcoxon signed-rank test assessed total score changes. Results Data from 159 younger and 85 older students showed significant gains: grades 2-3 improved their knowledge assessment scores from 14.99 (SD = 2.18) to 16.70 (SD = 1.76, p < 0.001), and grades 4-5 from 21.80 (SD = 2.21) to 23.32 (SD = 2.01, p < 0.001). Both younger and older students improved on the concepts of visibility, hand signals, and built environment awareness. Implications for school health policy, practice, and equity BESC's minimal equipment needs support integration into P.E. programs, particularly in underserved or high-risk schools. Broader adoption may enhance youth injury prevention and safe cycling behaviors. Conclusions BESC improved safety knowledge and is a scalable and alternative to on-bike instruction in elementary school settings.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- BikeSafe Elementary School Curriculum (BESC), an off-bicycle, standards-aligned program delivered during physical education classes
- Population
- 159 younger students (grades 2-3, ages 7-8) and 85 older students (grades 4-5, ages 9-11) from nine Miami-Dade County public elementary schools
Key finding
Grades 2-3 improved assessment scores from 14.99 (SD = 2.18) to 16.70 (SD = 1.76), p < 0.001
MM et al. · Europe PMC · 1 Jun 2026