Pupils’ and mass‐media ideas about radioactivity

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Abstract
The Chernobyl accident has been used as an opportunity to study pupils’ ideas about radioactivity, in relation to the information presented in the mass‐media. Our study produced a detailed picture of pupils’ ideas about the accident, the spreading of radioactive materials that resulted from it, the danger arising from the materials and about what to expect from possible safety measures. The correspondence between pupils’ ideas and mass‐media information appears to be striking. It is argued that information derived from the mass‐media is particularly important as a starting point for science education topics that relate to the life‐world domain.