Abstract
Education is the key to increasing the knowledge and awareness of the general public on environmental issues at early ages, as envisaged in the concept of sustainable development. Hence, this study aims to discuss the sustainability practices among children at a Ministry of Education (MOE) pre-school as a result of the implementation of environmental education through a formal curriculum. Sustainability practices of pupils in this study involves the concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Survey methods were used, which involved 500 pupils in MOE preschools in Hulu Langat district, Selangor Malaysia. Results showed that pre-school pupils practice the 3Rs only at a moderate level while the level of knowledge of sustainability was at a high level. The results also showed that there was no significant relationship between prolonged knowledge in practicing the 3Rs among pre-school students. Obviously the input given by the teacher in teaching and learning science was not aligned with sustainability activities such as the 3Rs. Space conservation practices using a structured curriculum platform should be utilised in order to produce citizens who are aware of sustainable development.
Highlights
Environmental management is very important in the context of ensuring the quality of human life
The final assessment of the level of knowledge and behaviour of preschool pupils in the 3Rs demonstrates that sustainability practices are not yet at a level that we can be proud of
The application of 3R in practice exists among more girls than boys
Summary
Environmental management is very important in the context of ensuring the quality of human life. The human greed to pursue modernisation has led to environmental quality increasingly being damaged, due to the imbalance of ecological systems via global warming, air pollution, ozone layer depletion, deterioration of water quality, reduction of natural resources and the improvement of solid waste. Given such circumstances, education is an accurate method for producing a generation who have the knowledge and awareness of sustainability (Hopkins & McKeown, 2002; Joshi, 2009; Moroye, 2005; Sterling, 2003; Scoullos & Malotidi, 2004). Education is considered important because, through the process of individual learning or a more intellectual society, being active, understanding and being able to identify the good and the bad will be born (Hanifah, 2013; Mohmadisa & Suhaily, 2010).
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