Are Future Teachers ‘Green’? A Quantitative Analysis of Ability, Knowledge, Perception, and Attitude toward Renewable Energy

Abstract

This study provides a comprehensive discussion to determine and investigate the level of knowledge, perception, self-assessment, and attitude of preservice teachers (PST) toward renewable energy (RE), in an emerging and developing country that is heavily reliant on oil and fossil fuels. The significance of the study lies in the need to better understand the role in informing future teachers and their individual perception on the current concept of RE, which is essential to mold individuals into responsible energy consumers. The investigation was administered on 155 respondents 104 (67.1%) of the participants were females, who are pursuing language major courses in education. The study employed a descriptive quantitative design, to quantify and measure a phenomenon or phenomena, such as the overall perception and attitude of PSTs toward renewable energy. To ensure accurate data collection, the study employed a research instrument adapted from [1] exhibiting a good reliability score for interpretation of .678 Cronbach's alpha. Furthermore, Shapiro-Wilk test was employed to test the normality of the distribution of data. Employing one-way ANOVA, the collected data was subjected to statistical analysis. The investigation yielded significant and positive results regarding the RE sources such as solar (64.5%), wind (58.1%), and geothermal (51.6%) which produced a high mean score, which suggests proficiency and expertise in the context of RE. The study revealed that gender has a neutral effect on the results and does not pose any significant difference.