high school first year students opinions about fish consumption

This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge level and fish consumption behaviors of high school first year students; the main aim to determine the effectiveness and applicability of an interactive education material developed.In the present research, a questionnaire was applied to three high schools in Ankara: Ege High School, Genç Osman High School and Ankara Anatolian High School with 82 high school freshman students participating. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire (Cronbach?s ? = 0.78) was found to be high. The questionnaire on nutrition and fih consumption was applied as a pretest before teaching. The interactive education material as a web page, was applied to the students and after ten days the same test was given as posttest. Results of the tests showed a significant difference between the two tests.The research results show that school education on nutrition is not satisfactory, and the respondants added the need for an education in this field. Respondants views on the necessity for the education to be carried out by using interactive material, depicts the importance of the study. Increase in fish consumption awareness will be easier and faster by developing interactive education materials and making them available via the internet.When the need for nutrition throughout life is considered, the importance of the study is emphasized once more. The material prepared in the present study was found to be significant when considered in terms of amount of information covered and the results obtained. While no difference was seen among schools for the pretest; the results of the posttest was significantly different. In addition, the relationship between respondants with respect to the level of pretest knowledge level and socioeconomic level, and abolishment of this difference after application of the education material, is important in terms of showing that level of knowledge and awareness in nutrition and fish consumption are not affected by economic factors.