THE CONCEPT OF VIRUSES AMONG FIRST AND SECOND GRADE PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Everyone has been interacting with the outside world since birth, creating ideas about various objects or phenomena. The main aim of the research was to identify the concepts of primary school students about viruses. In addition to finding out the level of ideas, additional aims were to determine the effect of gender, the degree of education attended, the residence, the presence of a doctor in the family and the perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD). The research sample consisted of 173 first and second grade primary school students. The research tool consisted of three parts. The first part was sociodemographic variables, the next part was a questionnaire focusing on the perception of one's own health. In the last section of the research tool, a children's drawing was used to determine the level of respondents' ideas about viruses. The data were analyzed using descriptive, inferential and multidimensional statistics methods. In most cases, drawings of viruses were relatively accurate. The level of education attended and perceived infectiousness were shown to be significant factors influencing the level of students' ideas about viruses. Due to a non-representative sample, the study brings only preliminary results. The anthropomorphic elements were often present in students’ drawings in the first grade, it would be appropriate to consider what visual material should be used in the teaching process. Keywords: categorical system, children's drawing, conceptions of viruses, primary school students