The effects of the basic hazard awareness education given to the elementary school students on the level of their knowledge

This is a semi-experimental study that was performed to examine the effects of the basic hazardawarenesseducation given to the elementary school students on the level of knowledge ( about the subject ).The research was carried on in sample of 105 schoolchildren attending the sixth classes ofBaşöğretmen Atatürk and Asil Nadir Elementary Schools (in constitution of National Ministry of Education). Aquestionnaire of the basic hazard awareness -earthquake- which was improved by the researcher and supportedby an expert was used as a tool to collect data.The students were exposed to basic hazard awareness education program in duration of two lessons (90 minutes ). The data was collected through the questionnaire that was applied three times (before the training,two weeks after the training and two months after the training). The data obtained were evaluated through thetest of variance analysis with repeated measurements on the computer.Mean of basic hazard awareness knowledge marks of the students are as follows: 20.7+0.4 beforetraining; 25.4+0.3 two weeks after training ; and 25.3+0.3 two months after training. In repeated measurements,as a result of the variance analysis, the differences between the knowledge marks of the students before thetraining , two weeks after the training and two months after the training were found statistically meaningful (p=0.000).Statistically no meaningful difference was found between the knowledge marks of the students twoweeks after the training and two months after the training (p=0.942). The reason to this was thought to be thebooklets given to the children to make use of and reinforce their knowledge.It was found that the basic hazard awareness education given to the students during the study suppliedmeaningful increase on the level of the students? knowledge; and for this reason it was suggested that this kindof education should be taken as a part of the curriculum of the National Ministry of Education and appliedconstantly on wider student groups.Key Words : Basic hazard awareness education, hazard programs, earthquake, school health, school nursing,elementary school students