The knowledge of young students about ionizing radiation. A study-campaign and its assessment in the high schools of the Lazio region

The Department of Communication and Social research of the Sapienza University of Rome and the National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research have realised a study aimed at evaluating the effects and achievements - in terms of gained knowledge - of a study-campaign on radiation protection and ionizing radiation. The campaign was addressed to 14-19 years-old students, a strategic target representing a fertile ground for absorbing new knowledge, new values, new behaviours, and transferring them to future generations. This audience is exactly a medium, enabling that the information gets diffused in the families; at the same time this audience is easy to be reached through the schools.

The adopted research design (with pre-test, post-test and not perfectly equivalent control group) was an quasi-experimental one due to a casual subdivision, in the initial phase, of all the selected classes in two groups: the experimental group (EG) and the control group (CG).

The referred theoretic model assumes that an important part of the achievements – in terms of enhancement of competencies with consequent progress at cognitive level and more generally also in the affective and conative aspects -, depends on the educational activity performed ad hoc by an experienced and qualified staff. On the other hand the success of an educational activity depends also on the quality of the environment (structural characteristics and the system of relationships) where the activity is conducted; moreover, as it is the case for any human attitude, there are also further factors contributing to the changes imputable both to the individuals (gender, cultural heritage, position in the educational process, level of preparation, engagement of eco-compatible behaviours, etc.) and to the context of the activity (town, profile of the school).