MISKONCEPCIE ŽIAKOV ZÁKLADNÝCH ŠKÔL O ZDRAVÍ A ŽIVOTNOM ŠTÝLE ČLOVEKA IDENTIFIKOVANÉ PROSTREDNÍCTVOM ŠTVORÚROVŇOVÉHO TESTU.

Primary School Pupils’ Misconceptions about Human Health and Lifestyle Identified by a Four-Tier Test.

Pupils’ misconceptions related to human health and lifestyles can have a significant impact on the quality of a person’s life but also on the quality of life of society at large as such misconceptions can be a breeding ground for the emergence of various diseases, addictions and, in extreme situations, can even lead to death. Misconceptions make it difficult for pupils to learn more meaningfully, and therefore, it is necessary to focus on them in the teaching of biology. However, it is quite difficult to remove created misconceptions among pupils, and therefore, it is more effective to try to identify them and then choose teaching strategies or methods that will prevent their emergence. For this reason, we have constructed a four-tier test that enables a deeper examination of pupils’ understanding of scientific concepts and more objective identification of possible misconceptions. The analysis of the test results among primary school pupils (in eighth grade) in Slovakia showed, on average, 57.0% of them have acquired the correct scientific concepts in topics related to human health and lifestyles. Subsequently, we identified that, on average, 23.5% of pupils have a lack of knowledge, 10.7% of pupils have false positive/negative misconceptions, and 8.8% of pupils have misconceptions. We recorded the highest frequency of pupils’ misconceptions in items focused on the energy composition of food, second-hand smoking, and the transmission of contagious (infectious) diseases. Subsequently, we created a comprehensive list of the identified misconceptions, which can help biology teachers in making these topics accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]