This study aims to reveal high school students’ perceptions of the water concept through their drawings. The study was conducted in accordance with the phenomenological design. The sample consisted of 144 students attending the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades of high schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education (MoNE). The data obtained from the pictures drawn by the students about the concept of water were analyzed with the content analysis technique. In the findings, a total of 11 themes were determined: water resources, vitality, utilization, depletion of water, properties of water, transport, spending time, pollution, energy generation, natural disaster, and mythological. The theme of energy generation appeared only in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades; the theme of natural disaster appeared only in the 9th and 11th grades; and the theme of mythological appeared only in the 10th grade. Moreover, the least common themes were energy generation and natural disaster in the 9th grade, spending time and pollution in the 10th grade, transport in the 11th grade, and pollution in the 12th grade. The first four themes common to all grades were water resources, vitality, utilization, and depletion of water, respectively. The written expressions were found in the pictures drawn by the students, and it was concluded that these expressions were related to the themes obtained. In these expressions, the students drew attention to the importance of water for the life and health of living things, its gradually diminishing due to unconscious and insensitive consumption, the need to use conservatively it, otherwise depletion of water resources in the future, the water pollution and global warming and their consequences, and the relaxing effect of water for humans. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended to conduct similar studies with specific themes concerning water (such as drawing studies on water resources or water depletion) in further studies.

Secondary education, water, drawings, perception, content analysis