Little is known about the knowledge and perceptions that inform children’s safety in the aquatic environment. This paper reports on 8–9 year old children’s critical thinking of water safety and safety strategies at the beach. One-to-one interview data with Year 4 students from across New Zealand, collected as part of the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement, revealed insights that will contribute to water safety education. Data was obtained from video analysis of the interviews of children who chose the beach as the aquatic environment to talk about (N = 195). Most students (80%) could identify two things they do to keep themselves safe at the beach. In addition, almost half (48%) were able to identify two beach hazards and explain why each was dangerous. Some variation in understanding was evident when data was analysed by ethnicity and decile [New Zealand school deciles are a measure of the socio-economic position of a school’s student community relative to other schools throughout the country. Deciles range from 1 (low) to 10 (high)] rating of the school attended. Unlike findings of other studies on high school and adult populations, no consistent gender differences were evident in children’s perception of beach water safety. Implications for future beach water safety education in schools and the community at large are discussed and recommendations for curriculum change are made.

中文翻译：

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儿童对水上安全和海滩风险的认识

关于在水生环境中告知儿童安全的知识和观念知之甚少。本文报告了 8-9 岁儿童对海滩水上安全和安全策略的批判性思维。作为全国学生成绩监测研究的一部分收集的来自新西兰各地的 4 年级学生的一对一访谈数据揭示了有助于水安全教育的见解。数据来自对选择海滩作为水生环境谈论的儿童的访谈视频分析（N = 195）。大多数学生 (80%) 可以确定他们在海滩上做的两件事来保证自己的安全。此外，近一半 (48%) 能够识别出两个海滩危险并解释每个危险的原因。当按种族和十分位数分析数据时，理解上的一些差异很明显[新西兰学校十分位数是衡量一所学校学生社区相对于全国其他学校的社会经济地位的衡量标准。十分位数范围从 1（低）到 10（高）] 就读学校的评分。与其他针对高中和成人人群的研究结果不同，儿童对海滩水安全的看法没有明显的性别差异。讨论了对学校和整个社区未来海滩水安全教育的影响，并提出了更改课程的建议。十分位数范围从 1（低）到 10（高）] 就读学校的评分。与其他针对高中和成人人群的研究结果不同，儿童对海滩水安全的看法没有明显的性别差异。讨论了对学校和整个社区未来海滩水安全教育的影响，并提出了更改课程的建议。十分位数范围从 1（低）到 10（高）] 就读学校的评分。与其他针对高中和成人人群的研究结果不同，儿童对海滩水安全的看法没有明显的性别差异。讨论了对学校和整个社区未来海滩水安全教育的影响，并提出了更改课程的建议。