Children's Views on Nuclear Issues

Discussing nuclear war informally with a group of 16-year-olds I discovered that they had a great many different opinions about it, and many misconceptions. Stimulated by Hugh Lauder and Alan Scott and their 'Politics of Education' course at Canterbury University I set out to find out exactly what the situation was. As a trial run I prepared a survey and tested it on a group of third formers (Year 8). Interpreting the written answers proved to be a problem, however, so a second survey was prepared, consisting of a series of detailed statements with a choice of responses - a questionnaire. After testing and some minor changes in wording to avoid misunderstanding, this was found satisfactory.