ERGONOMIC PREFERENCES OF THE PRIMARY STUDENTS DURING WRITING: PENCIL GRASP, HAND PREFERENCE, SITTING AND PAPER POSITION

The primary purpose of this study was the determination of the ergonomic preferences of the primary education students during their writing process. The study was conducted with the survey method and participated by 352 students studying 1-4th years of primary school located in Ankara. The data collection process was carried out in two stages. In the first stage the photographs of the students were taken when they were writing a text dictated on them. These photographs were thoroughly analyzed by the researcher and put down in an observation monitoring log. During this process the researchers worked in pairs and the pencil grasp, sitting and paper positions of the students were decided on mutual agreement. The results were then statistically analyzed with the SPSS program. The observations showed that the majority of the students write with their right hands and most of them control the paper with their non-writing hand. Almost half of the students were sitting in correct position and similar number of students was observed to excessively bend towards the desk. %20 of the students had the correct pencil grasp and hold the pencil between their thumb and the pointing fingers. Many of the students were seen to grasp the pencil towards its tip and half of the students positioned the paper perpendicular to their bodies and half of them place the paper with a rightward slope. It was concluded that the necessary precautions should be taken in order to teach the students to write in ergonomic position.