Environmental Literacy among Students of the Faculty of Education at Yarmouk

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the environmental literacy among students of the Faculty of Education at Yarmouk University. The researchers designed a four-part instrument for measuring environmental literacy consisting of: environmental knowledge, attitude towards the environment, environmental practices, and a concern for environmental issues. The sample of the study consisted of 430 male and female students in the second semester of the academic year 2010/2011.The findings revealed that the subjects' level of environmental knowledge and attitudes towards the environment are below the accepted educational standard 75% with a statistically significant difference ( = 0.05), and that the level of environmental practices matches the accepted educational standard. The findings also showed a statistically significant difference in the mean scores on environmental knowledge scale due to gender in favor of female, while no differences were found due to the variables of year of study and specialization. A statistically significant difference was also found in the means of the subjects' responses on attitudes towards the environment scale due to specialization while no differences were found due to year of study and gender. Unlike specialization, both year of study and gender were found to cause a statistically significant difference in the means of the subjects' responses to the concern for environmental issues scale in favor of female respondents. None of the variables of the study was found to make any statistically significance differences in the means of the subjects' responses to the environmental practices scale.