Abstract

The aim of this research is to define and explain how high school students in Turkey perceive the concept of “Flood”. The study was completed by 413 high-school students who were studying in 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade classes within the 2011 to 2012 academic years. Students were responsible for completing the statement, “Flood is like ..................., because ...............”. The Content Analysis Technique, as part of a Qualitative Research Method, was used to analyse and interpret the collected data. At the end of the study, 10 conceptual categories are exposed. 80 high school students perceived “Flood” as “a scary and terrifying event”, 67 students said a flood “is a natural hazard”, 57 students said a flood is “an event causing life and property loss”, 44 students said a flood is “a natural event”, 35 students said a flood is “a burning and destroying event”, 35 students said a flood is “an event altering the human psychological state”, 30 students said a flood is “a way of expressing death”, 27 students said a flood is “an event wiping away everything”, 27 students said  a flood is “a prudent event”, and 11 students said a flood is “an unpredictable event”.

Key words: High schools, flood, phenomenography, geography education