Pre-Service Teacher Opinions About Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package Developed to Raise Environmental Awareness

Abstract

Abstract In this study, the effectiveness of Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package developed in order to raise environmental awareness in pre-service teachers and enable them to be an example of an eco-friendly teacher for their future students, and the responses about Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package were investigated. The study was conducted on 75 fourth year pre-service teachers from departments of Elemantary School Education who took Environmental Education Course in a state university during fall semester of the academic year 2014-2015 and 10 pre-service teachers who participated in the study were asked to provide their opinions. It was a qualitative study based on a phenomenological design. Data of this research were obtained using a semi-structured questionnaire and interviews and analyzed with an inductive approach using Nvivo 9 qualitative analysis program. The participants were asked about the environment, environmental problems, future environmental problems, characteristics of an eco-friendly person before and after the implementation and were asked to provide their opinions about Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package after the implementation. Before the implementation, it was identified that the participants had lack of knowledge about the environment, neglected the role of people in environmental problems, could not make realistic estimations about possible future problems and didn’t know the requirements of being an eco-friendly person. Following the environmental education provided using Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package, the participants made statements indicating that they have a good knowledge of the environment, can describe environmental problems and their causes based on such knowledge, are aware of the fact that the future of the environment will change based on human acts, show positive attitudes, including loving the environment and having concerns about its future, describe an eco-friendly person and show such behaviors. Based on the findings, it was concluded that Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package, which aims to raise examples of eco-friendly teachers, was effective in reaching its target. Keywords: Environmental education, eco-friendly person, pre-service teachers, eco-friendly person activity package