Investigation of Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Attitudes towards Sustainable Environmental Education

Ozgul Keles

doi:10.5539/hes.v7n3p171

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to investigate pre-service science teachers’ sustainable environmental education attitudes and the factors affecting them in terms of some variables (gender and grade level). The study group of the current research is comprised of 154 pre-service teachers attending the Department of Science Education in the Faculty of Education of Aksaray University. The study employed the descriptive survey method, one of the qualitative research methods. As the data collection tool, “The Sustainable Environmental Education Attitude Scale” developed by Afacan and Demirci Güler (2011) was used in the study. The Cronbach alpha reliability of the scale was calculated to be α=.93. In the statistical analysis of the data, SPSS was used. In the analysis of the data, Independent Samples t-Test and One Way ANOVA were run. The analysis results revealed that sustainable environmental education attitudes frequency of the pre-service teachers is at the medium level. It was also found that the sustainable environmental education attitudes of the pre-service teachers do not vary significantly by gender; yet, they were found to be varying significantly depending on the grade level variable. It can be suggested that further research can attempt to determine the attitudes of pre-service teachers from different branches and to analyze different factors affecting sustainable environmental education attitude.

Highlights

Educational institutions play an important role in the process of building the knowledge, skills, awareness, values and sustainable action necessary to achieve the goal of sustainable earth
The current study investigated the pre-service science teachers’ attitudes towards sustainable environmental education in terms of gender and grade level
It was determined that the female students are worried about urban sprawl and the use of pesticides in agriculture and the possibility of extinction of many animal species in Turkey and they are conscious about purchasing products that can be harmful to environment

Summary

Introduction

Educational institutions play an important role in the process of building the knowledge, skills, awareness, values and sustainable action necessary to achieve the goal of sustainable earth. Orr (2003) emphasizes that the relationship between energy, the environment and the economy must be addressed in such a way as to apply it across disciplines; Moore (2005) argues that sustainability education should include social, ecological, economic, political and spiritual components of how students think about environmental problems and effective teaching strategies and different world views and perspectives and human impact on ecosystems should be discussed; Fleischer (2011); while focusing on the learning process, stresses that science education needs to be used to integrate a pedagogy that promotes practical knowledge with a moral and sustainable ideology by implementing an experiential, participatory and multidisciplinary approach; Lautensach and Lautensach (2010) propose a curriculum that focuses on values, attitudes and beliefs to facilitate sustainable behavior and environmental justice. What is the level of the pre-service science teachers’ scores of attitudes towards sustainable environmental education?

Participants

Data Collection Tools

Results

Discussion