Evaluation of Nature Awareness in Secondary School Students by Nature Education Projects with A Case Study in Bursa, Türkiye

Abstract

The importance of education given in primary and secondary education period is very important in raising new generations who respect nature and protect nature. In this study, the results of nature education in understanding biological and cultural diversity were evaluated with the example of a Nature Education Project, which was carried out in 2022 and supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) via 4004 Science Schools and Nature Education program for the students of the Regional Boarding School selected as the target group in the Protected Natural Areas of Bursa. The project aims to enable the students who will be the elders of the future living in Bursa and the teachers who will train the students to get to know the biodiversity and natural resources of Bursa by obtaining the information from the first source, by making observations and using the technology, to gain awareness of protection in order to ensure the sustainability of these resources, environmental pollution. It was carried out in order to enable students to establish strong bonds with nature by gaining awareness about nature. Within the scope of the project, the environmental perception scale and environmental attitude scale were applied to the participants as a pre-posttest in the project, and in addition to these tests, the natural science diaries kept during the project and the pictures they made about the activities were evaluated. The nonparametric Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test mean scores. At the end of the project, the target audience to establish a strong bond with nature, to recognize the factors that make up ecosystems, to gain awareness of protecting natural assets, to raise awareness about the limited nature of natural resources and to increase their awareness of environmental pollution and its effects, to transfer it to the society through social interaction after the project, to raise awareness, It has been observed that in the future, Bursa has gained awareness in the form of taking social responsibility in a way that will protect its values and developing by making use of ecotourism. Keywords: Nature Education; Regional Boarding School students; Biodiversity conservation; Protected areas; Türkiye DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-10-01 Publication date: April 30 th 2023