İtobiad (Sep 2023)
The Concept of Hygiene of Primary School Students in the Scope of Social Studies Teaching
Abstract
The aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of Turkish Cypriot students about "hygiene", which is an important subject in the learning field of My Health, within the scope of Life Studies (1st, 2nd and 3rd Grade) course in primary schools. It is to evaluate and offer suggestions according to the situation that will arise. In this context, the study group of the research consists of 4th grade students in the 2019-2020 academic year whose Life Studies program has been completed. This study has been carried out using the phenomenological research design, one of the qualitative research designs. The sample of this study was formed using the convenience sampling method. Accordingly, a total of 185 4th grade students enrolled in the elementary schools located in TRNC comprised the study sample. Of these students, 107, 47 and 31 students were enrolled in the elementary schools located in Kyrenia, Nicosia and Morfou districts of TRNC, respectively. Content analysis of the answers given by the 185 students revealed that students used a total of 58 valid metaphors for the concept of “Hygiene” in different frequencies. These 58 metaphors were categorized into 8 themes of Cleaning, Cleaning Materials, Living Things, Family, Health, Non-Living Things, Abstract Things and Germs. Students were found to have used cleaning (f=65) the most, followed by broom (f=9), mother (f=8), white (f=8), water (f=8) and medication (f=6), as the metaphors to explain their hygiene perceptions. A review of the frequencies of the metaphors put forward by the students regarding the theme of family within the scope of this study gave rise to the question of whether there are sufficient role models in terms of hygiene in students’ environments, within their families in particular. Further studies are needed to find an aswer to this question.
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