Exploring Greek Students’ Ideas on Natural Products

• Christina-Zoi Bakali ^[1] ; Evangelia Mavrikaki ^[1] ; Dia Galanopoulou ^[1]
  1. [1] National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

     National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

     Dimos Athens, Grecia

     
• Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 101, Nº 11, 2024, págs. 4671-4679
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Natural products contain chemical compounds with limited availability in nature but have been valuable as medicines, cosmetics, or food ingredients from ancient times through present. However, solid information for the public on these products is missing mainly because school teaching does not imply interdisciplinary approaches, and this is possibly the reason for various misconceptions still existing worldwide. In the present study, we explore Greek students’/young citizens’ knowledge and alternative ideas on natural products using a questionnaire based on the information included in their school textbooks of chemistry and biology and on the relevant literature. The main findings of this research are that a) students widely use natural products and they are aware of their biological activity; however, they admit that school modestly affects this knowledge and they consider social media as the main sources for their ideas, b) Greek students possess certain misconceptions, recorded already in the literature, such as that the natural substances undergo no processing, they do not contain additives, and they are all beneficial, c) students’ ideas are probably signs of chemophobia since they identify additives with “synthetic chemical” and they believe that there is no human intervention in natural product delivery, and d) their social concerns about natural products are restricted to environmental protection, possibly reflecting the absence of socio-scientific teaching approaches in Greek curricula.