Consideration on the Perception Change for Radiation of High School Students through an Experiencing Program
Nam, Jong Soo;Kim, Yong Woo;Lee, Ji Sook;Seo, Kyung Won;
ABSTRACT
The Korean nuclear industry has been influenced by Fukushima nuclear accident of Japan which occurred two years ago. With information about the accident mainly through mass media such as television or internet, most people are inclined to have a negative perception about nuclear and radiation. They have lack of proper understanding of the fact. Especially, Korean students being future generation have a very limited chance to learn about nuclear and radiation from their regular school curricula. To meet this need, the effectiveness of an extra curricula program is studied using a set of survey on the change of knowledge and perception on radiation, which has been conducted by providing a radiation experiencing program, developed for this study, to high school students in Daejeon area. As a result, a large number of students are found to have enhanced their knowledge on radiation, while some students have shown their positive change of perception on radiation. Based on this, further study may need to improve the survey method and to promote its application for the development of more diverse and systematic radiation experiencing programs. Moreover, better ways for synergy between education and public relations activities on radiation safety may need to be sought.