Birds are a group of animals, which we encounter daily, however, we do not know much about them. Even in the pre-school period, children get in touch with them through television, fairy tales, the Internet and other media, and create assumptions about them, some of which are wrong. By integrating animal observation into lessons and building students' knowledge independently, we can improve children's knowledge and perceptions of birds.
With our research, we wanted to find out whether there are misconceptions about birds among 4th and 5th grade elementary school students, whether any of them are culturally conditioned, and how they depend on student's gender, place of residence, and their interest in animals.
The research was carried out on a sample of 412 4th and 5th grade children from four Slovenian primary schools. The results were obtained with the help of a test of knowledge that the students completed. We analysed results with the SPSS program.
Research has shown that there are some misconceptions about birds among students. The most common of them is that the Slovenian word »čuk« (Athene noctua) refers to a male owl (Strix aluco). This misconception is also culturally conditioned. They also had trouble with misconceptions: a rooster crows to wake people and chickens; the penguin has a fur; an owl can turn its head in its neck for a full circle; a bat is a nocturnal bird.
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