Reliability and validity of ecological literacy scale for primary school students

Abstract

Abstract Background Ecological literacy aims to build up a framework of view that identifies the association with nature and enhances the improvement of new areas to produce sustainable lifestyles. Today, this concept has become one of the important requirements for a sustainable community. The aim of the study was to develop the Ecological Literacy Scale (ELS) to determine the ecological literacy of primary school students. Methods This methodological study carried out in 233 primary school 4th grade students in an eco-school in the 2019-2020 academic year. By using literature 91 questions was collected including water, energy, transport and air, biodiversity, purchasing and waste topics which were main issues of ecological footprint. After taking expert opinions, a scale that consists of 32 questions and scored as I agree:3, undecided:2, I disagree:1 and was created named ELS. In order to evaluate the reliability of the scale, item total score correlation and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) analyzes and exploratory factor analysis was used for construct validity. Results Of the 52.8% students were male and their age ranges from 8-11, the mean was 9.5±0.6. After the scale development study, the scale consisted of 19 items and unidimension. Scale items explain 27.37% of total variance and factor loadings ranged from 0.42-0.64. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.846 for the scale. In the last form of the scale, the score that can be taken from scale range 19-57. It was accepted that by increasing of the score, ecological literacy level was increased. The mean score of the students was 51.73 ± 5.39 and the median was 53.0. Conclusions Ecological literacy could be considered as high level for primary school students in eco-school. ELS was found to be a valid-reliable tool for assesing ecological literacy in primary school students. Key messages Ecological literacy is an issue that students should be informed from the primary school period. In the literature, ELS seems the first scale about ecological literacy for primary school students and needs to be tested in large groups of students.