Students' conceptions about the sense of smell

Topics addressing everyday phenomena, such as sensory perception, are particularly conducive for the development of students' conceptions. Whilst some studies have investigated students' conceptions about the senses of sight and hearing, research regarding students' conceptions about the sense of smell is still missing. Therefore, we conducted an explorative study in which we interviewed six secondary science students. By applying qualitative content analysis, we found that students had a basic understanding of the sense of smell and its functions. However, we identified the inappropriate conception that smell would be forwarded directly from nose to brain without any further processing.