Teachers Candidates’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Within the Context of Environmental Education

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to : determine participants’ views on environmental problems ; assess their level of environmental knowledge, attitude and behavior; and investigate the relationships between environmental knowledge, attitude and behavior. Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire admnistered to 133 teachers candidates enrolled in physical sciences and technology and biology and earth sciences teaching program in a public university in Africa. Results of the study showed that : (1) participants are aware of environmental problems and indicated the Ministry of environment, municipalities and daily news papers and magazines as the three most important sources of information which raise awareness; (2) they had a relatively high level of environmental knowledge, demonstrated positive attitude and high level of environmental behavior towards conservation, recorvery and recycling ; (3) there was a significant correlation between students’ environmental behavior and their environmental knowedge and a significant correlation between students’ behavior and their attitudes as well ; and finally (4) participants environmental knowledge is a significant positive predictor of behavior and their environmental attitude is a significant positive predictor of their environmental behavior. Important educational implications were derived from the study.