TITLE:
Conceptions about Drinking Water of 10th Graders and Undergraduates
AUTHORS:
Christian Fremerey, Anne K. Liefländer, Franz X. Bogner
KEYWORDS:
Drinking Water, Misconceptions, Alternative Conceptions, Water Education, Water and Environment
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.6 No.12,
September
18,
2014
ABSTRACT: Any everyday subject may trigger individual conceptions either
scientifically correct or naively shaped (misconceptions, alternative
conceptions). For any
educator, knowledge about a pupil’s individual perception may strongly support
teaching success. Within this context, we see the use of drinking water as
daily behavior loaded with conceptions. We monitored the perceptions of two
different samples, of high achieving 10th graders and of undergraduates in
Biology. All participants responded to three closed and three open questions
requesting individual statements about drinking water. All open questions were
categorized via qualitative content analysis mainly revealing the perception of
drinking water as a clean product, precisely controlled and drinkable with no
need for worry. In general, some alternative conceptions did not seem differ in
both samples over the time of about five years: For instance, many see our drinking
water as purified in sewage plants. However, differences between individuals
exist: For example, whether water is consumed as tap or bottled water. Here,
some name water hardness as the reason to not drink tap water, because they
think it is harmful (although the very same participants prefer bottled mineral
water). Other conceptions seem to change over time, such as the estimation
about the remaining time until our drinking water might be used up, or
familiarity with the term “virtual water”. Summing up, we did find a positive
attitude towards national drinking water policy, although major knowledge gaps
need its mentioning. The relevance of these results and strategies for public
and school teaching are discussed.