STUDENTS' EMOTIONS, THOUGHTS, AND PERCEPTIONS ABOUT ENDANGERED FROGS

Abstract

Due to environmental pollution and habitat depletion, the frog population is endangered. Frogs, of which some species live in the same environment with humans, need to be protected from human-caused negative effects. Therefore, this study aims to determine students' thoughts, emotions, and perceptions about frogs. The research design followed in this study is phenomenology design which belongs to the qualitative tradition. The study group was determined by the convenience sampling method which belongs to the purposive sampling technique. This study was conducted with a total of 77 students (43 females, 34 males) ranging between 10-11years old. Participants are fifth-grade students at a secondary school in a town in the Marmara region of Turkey during the spring semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. The data were obtained through the Survey on Emotions and Thoughts prepared by the author. The results show that the majority of students think that frogs are important creatures but they do not have enough information about the reasons behind this. Moreover, it has been discovered that students have some knowledge about certain properties of frogs, however, they have misconceptions such as frogs breed by birth, have five lives, are mammals and poisonous, and that they infect warts when touched. The research results indicate that the majority of the students do not like frogs because of their slippery skin, nutrition with insects, googly eyes, and being disgusting. It has been observed that students mostly emphasize fish and kangaroo metaphors in their perception of frogs. In light of these results, live animals including frogs can be used in science classes, and students can get familiarized with them.

Keywords: Secondary school students, environmental pollution, metaphor, perception of frogs, misconceptions.

Ethics and Conflict of Interest

The author declares that the study has not unethical issues and that research and publication ethics have been considered carefully.

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