Secondary School Students' Key Concepts and Drawings about the Concept of Environment

The purpose of the present study is to determine the elementary school secondary level students' environment-related key concepts and drawings. The study was carried out with 171 (88 females, 83 males) students from three different schools in the city of Sakarya in 2012-2013 school year. Out of the participants, 35 were fifth grade students, 40 were sixth grade students, 54 were seventh grade students and 42 were eighth grade students. Though the study was a qualitative one, open-ended questions developed by the researchers were used to collect data and content analysis was employed for the analysis of the data. The analyses revealed that the most commonly used environment-related concepts are "tree, flower, and forest". When the students' drawings were analyzed, they were grouped under four main headings as "Model 1, the environment as a place where animals/plants live-a natural place"; "Model 2, the environment as a place that supports life"; "Model 3, the environment as a place impacted or modified by human activity"; and "Model 4, the environment as a place where animals, plants, and humans live". Among these, the most frequently encountered one in the students' drawings was "Model 3, the environment as a place impacted or modified by human activity". Moreover, the students' drawings were also analyzed in relation to gender variable, and it was found that the drawings of female students exhibit more variety than the drawings of the male students. In light of the findings of the study, some suggestions were made for researchers and further research.