Students' mental models with respect to flood risk in the Netherlands

Until now various quantitative studies have shown that adults and students in the Netherlands have low flood risk perceptions. In this study we interviewed fifty 15-year-old students in two different flood prone areas. In order to find out how they think and reason about the risk of flooding, the me...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International research in geographical and environmental education 2015-04, Vol.24 (2), p.131-147
Main Authors: Bosschaart, Adwin, Kuiper, Wilmad, van der Schee, Joop
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
15-year-old students
Environmental awareness
flood risk
Foreign Countries
Geography
geography education
Geography Instruction
Geography teaching
Interviews
Mental models
Misconceptions
Natural Disasters
Netherlands
Prediction
Qualitative Research
Risk
Risk management
Schemata (Cognition)
Secondary education
Secondary School Students
Semi Structured Interviews
Student Attitudes
Teaching Methods
the Netherlands
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Until now various quantitative studies have shown that adults and students in the Netherlands have low flood risk perceptions. In this study we interviewed fifty 15-year-old students in two different flood prone areas. In order to find out how they think and reason about the risk of flooding, the mental model approach was used. Flood risk turned out to be not very salient and the mental models had a piecemeal character with fundamental misconceptions. Furthermore, the mental models consisted largely of descriptive concepts instead of concepts about underlying processes with respect to explaining and predicting flooding. Concepts with respect to hazard adjustments and disaster response were lacking most. Conclusions about how to use the results of this study in geography education were discussed.
ISSN:1038-2046
1747-7611
DOI:10.1080/10382046.2014.993171