Study of the mental model of volcano in Primary School students, through the analysis of drawings

Abstract

Volcanic activity is a factor for landscape building, and causes a great impact on human beings and the natural environment. For this reason, the study of volcanoes is very important in hazard and risk assessment, as well as in mitigation planning. The aim of this paper is to study the image of a volcano that a group of Centroamerican primary school children have, in a place with high volcanic activity. This study carried on with a sample formed by 100 students with ages between 7 and 9 years old, plus 162 with ages between 10 and 15 years old, who drew a volcano. The drawings were analyzed according to the deductive categories: volcano shape, internal structure, human presence and disaster. The results indicate that the mental model of volcanoes of students is more influenced by what they see in the audiovisual media and other sources, than by their own experience with the volcanoes in the region where they live.