Introduction: Kovod Postojna, Ltd. as the manager of the Postojna-Pivka water supply system, does not have enough efficient tools to reach every user in case of inadequate drinking water, thus preventing the health risks. With informal education of children on the topic of proper management of water resources and drinking water, we can, in a child friendly way, influence the attitude and behaviour of children, who will transfer their newly acquired habits to the adult period and become more responsible and aware users of drinking water. Purpose: We would like to find out whether the level of knowledge and attitude towards drinking water with primary school children who received education within the Vodko project is higher than the level of knowledge of children who were not involved in this project. We also want to establish whether the level of knowledge and attitude towards drinking water is increasing with the age of children who were involved in the project and whether there are differences in the level of knowledge and attitude towards drinking water among the selected primary schools. Methods of work: In the study we used a combined methodological approach, namely: a semi structured interview, open questions based on a read story or news from a newspaper and a worksheet with questions or a crossword. Data were processed with Excel and SPSS. Results: VPV pupils (involved in the project Vodko) during the first period of elementary school answered the questions by 11.7 % better than the pupils of the NVPV (they were not involved in the Vodko project). The second period VPV pupils were by 22.9 % better at solving the tasks than the NVPV pupils, while the third period VPV pupils were by 0.7 % better than the NVPV pupils. Qualitative research: The VPV pupils of the 1st and the 2nd period recognized the correct and the incorrect actions from the story they have read more frequently than the NVPV pupils. The 3rd period VPV pupils identified more different categories of environmental pollution than the NVPV pupils. Discussion and conclusion: The results showed that it is reasonable to start with the informal education of children about the importance of drinking water and its correct use already in pre–school and elementary school period. The greatest contribution to knowledge and understanding of the importance of drinking water was given to children in the first and the second period of elemanty scool. Informal education of children in the Vodko project has given positive results, so we will continue with similar activities also in the future.
|