Abstract
This study focuses on how the Ghanaian youth would want to associate with some environmental matters regarding science and technology learning using the Relevance of Science Education (ROSE) survey questionnaire; and is also aimed at providing implications for science educators. The results reported in this study are an extract from the author's thesis and also from Ghanaian data which are aspects of much larger ROSE data collected from about 40 countries. The study involved a sample of 1027 Junior Secondary School (JSS) 3 or ninth graders (551 boys and 476 girls) drawn from all the 12 districts in the Central Region of Ghana. The study draws on only one of the themes covered by the ROSE instrument and pupils were asked to indicate the extent to which they agree with 18 statements on a 4-point Likert-type scale which goes from ‘Disagree' to ‘Agree'. The responses were analysed using SPSS and Excel. Descriptive statistics was conducted on the data and an independent sample 2-tailed t-test was used to explore the statistical significance of the differences in the items' mean at p ≤ 0.05. On the average, the results suggest that the majority of pupils in the sample, irrespective of the gender shared almost similar sentiments towards environmental protection issues and to a large extent, placed the same items on top as well as at the bottom of their priorities. An interesting aspect of pupils' concerns for the environment was their optimism about the future of the globe. The study suggests the need for science educators to consider pupils' views when teaching environmental related issues. African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences Vol. 5 2007: pp. 87-98
Highlights
The present generation of young people is growing at a time that the earth faces numerous and different types of environmental degradation as a result of humans’ engagement with nature
Boys and girls were both in agreement with all the statements except: “Animals should have the same right to life as people”, “Environmental problems are exaggerated”, “Environmental problems make the future of the world look bleak and hopeless”, “Environmental problems should be left to experts”
Environmental problems make the future of the world look bleak and hopeless D13
Summary
The present generation of young people is growing at a time that the earth faces numerous and different types of environmental degradation as a result of humans’ engagement with nature. The major environmental degradation occurring in Ghana as a developing country includes land degradation, deforestation, and water and air pollution. Fuel wood extraction and unsanitary condition of our surroundings. These are some of the key issues that challenge the Environmental Action Plan (EAP) of successive governments in Ghana. The action plan provides a framework for interventions deemed necessary to safeguard the environment. The EAP has been and continues to be implemented but with little success. This implies that the current challenges in the environmental protection strategies require the full participation of all citizens, and not to be seen as responsibility of only scientists, politicians and researchers
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