High school students' preconceptions and conceptions about Tropical Storm Allison

Abstract

Today many people with no personal experience of living through a tropical storm reside in coastal regions in harm's way. There is a need to educate this population about storm risks. One good venue for this purpose is the public school system. Science educators have concluded it is important to establish a knowledge base about the various ways students think and learn in the classroom in order to design appropriate and effective instructional materials. There is also a need to fill the gap in hazards research about students' preconceptions and conceptions about these events. The purpose of this research study is to determine high school students' preconceptions and conceptions about tropical storms and the damage they do to coastal communities. This study used Lee's (1999) research study on Hurricane Andrew as a model and augments Lee's results. In-depth interviews, a survey, and class discussions with high school students living in Houston, Texas provided the data. The students, representing a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, vary in their preconceptions and conceptions about tropical storms. The results of the data show conceptions students developed after personal experiences with Tropical Storm Allison formed most of the preconceptions they have regarding their scientific knowledge about tropical storms. Overall, students' scientific knowledge about tropical storms is poor.