The Effect of Digital Story Tools Training on Teachers’ Competence in the Use of Digital Story Tools and Children’s Environmental Attitudes and Awareness

The aim of the research is to examine the environmental awareness and attitudes towards the environment of 5–6-year-old children attending nature-centred private kindergartens and public kindergartens. The study group of the descriptive research that used a screening model consists of 48 children from nature-centred Private Maki Kindergartens and 48 children from public kindergartens in the province of Balikesir in the 2020–2021 academic year. A Personal Information Form and Environmental Awareness and Attitude Scale for Preschool Children, developed by Soydan and Samur (International Electronic Journal of Environmental Education, 7(1), 78–97, 2017) for 60–72 months old children, were used in the study. The scale consists of two sub-dimensions as Attitude Towards Environment (15 items) and Environmental Awareness (11 Items) and 26 pictures. The Cronbachαcoefficients of the Environmental Awareness (.74) and Attitude (.78) Scale for Preschool Children and the overall scale (.82) were calculated. The data were collected by the researcher through one-on-one meetings with each child. The mean, mode, median, skewness and kurtosis values of the variables in the study were calculated. To determine whether the environmental awareness and environmental attitudes of the study group differ according to the school they attend, independent samplest-test was conducted. According to the results of the research, a significant difference was found in environmental attitudes and environmental awareness of children in nature-centred kindergartens compared to children in public kindergartens. Children attending public schools are less exposed to the environment. Preparing the Pre-School Education Program in an environment-friendly manner to increase the environmental awareness of children attending public schools will be effective in terms of making a difference in their attitudes towards the environment.

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of tourism experience in the process of pre-service early childhood teachers’ environmental attitudes influencing on environmental awareness and environmental conservation awareness.
 Methods The subjects of the study are 205 students in the Department of Early Childhood Education at A University located in Gyeonggi-do and B University located in Chungcheong-do. The Pearson correlation coefficient analysis and structural relationship between the research variables were analyzed and presented using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 23.0. To find out direct and indirect effects and total effects with structural equation and the mediating effect in both-sided verification of 95% confidence intervals was investigated by the bootstrap estimation method.
 Results The main findings are as follows. First, environmental awareness and environmental conservation awareness showed a statistically positive correlation with environmental attitudes and the sub-areas, environmental ethics, local residents' consideration, nature conservation, and harmony with local natural culture, while but there was no statistically significant correlation with animal and plant affinity. There was a statistically positive correlation between environmental awareness and environmental conservation awareness. Second, it was found that environmental attitudes do not directly affect environmental awareness, but indirectly affect. It also directly and indirectly affects environmental conservation awareness, and directly affect tourism experiences. Tourism experiences were found to directly affect environmental awareness and environmental conservation awareness. Third, As a result of verifying the mediating effect, it was found that tourism experiences completely mediated in the process of environmental attitude affecting environmental awareness, and partially mediated in the process of environmental attitude affecting environmental conservation awareness.
 Conclusions The results of this study reaffirmed that tourism experience is an important factor that helps improve environmental awareness. Thus, I explored and suggested a way to raise pre-service early childhood teachers’ awareness of environment through meaningful experiences.

Today’s children grow up far away from nature and this negatively affects their connectedness to nature, their attitudes and behaviors towards nature. As the natural elements in their immediate environment diminish, it can be assumed that the impact of the outdoor spaces of the schools they attend on children’s environmental attitudes and behaviors will increase. In this study, the effects of preschool outdoor education environments on the environmental awareness and attitudes of preschool children and their closeness to nature (biophilia) levels were studied. The research was carried out in four kindergartens and four preschools. A total of 240 preschoolers, 121 girls and 119 boys, constitute the sample of the research. The average monthly age of the children is 63.38 (sd. 1.96). The results showed that the outdoor quality of the kindergartens is higher than the outdoor quality of the preschools. The results indicated that the quality of outdoor educational environments has a significant effect on children’s environmental awareness and attitudes and their affinity towards nature.

The current study was conducted to find the correlation between the variablesenvironmental awareness, environmental attitude and consumer attitude.The study was done on 600 respondents. The area of study was Dehradun, Haridwar and Roorkee, three cities in Uttarakhand, India. The objective of the study was to find the respondent’s level of environmental awareness, to measure their level of environmental attitude and consumer attitude and to find out if a relationship existed between environmental awareness and environment attitude and its dimensions. Further the relationship between environmental awareness and consumer attitude was also found. Factorial design was used and levels of awareness were matched with levels of occupation and gender.Stratified random sampling, a probability sampling technique, was used to choose the sample.Environmental Awareness Test (EAWT) by Dr. K. Yeshodhara was used to assess the environmental awareness of the subjects. Taj Environmental Attitude Scale (TEAS) by Dr. Haseen Taj was used to measure the environmental attitude of the respondents and Consumer Attitude Scale (CAS) was designed by author to measure the consumer attitude of the respondents.
 Correlation was calculated to analyse the data and to test the proposed hypothesis. The findings revealed a significant correlation among the variables.

Environmental education is one of the sustainable tools being promoted to prevent further degradation of environment. Positive environmental attitude plays prominent role in enhancing its scope as well as improving the quality of the environment. Keeping this view in mind the present study was conducted to identify the level of environmental education awareness and attitude of 202 teacher educators in relation to their residential background and subject streams. Results revealed that teacher educators had average environmental education awareness and attitude level. Insignificant differences were observed in environmental education awareness and environmental attitude in relation to residential background while significant difference was noted in relation to subject streams. A moderate positive and significant correlation was found to exist between environmental education awareness and environmental attitude of teacher educators.

This study aims to investigate Kazakhstani high school students’ environmental knowledge, attitude toward the environment, environmental awareness, and environmental concern, and to present the effect of various extracurricular activities on high school students’ knowledge, attitude, awareness, and concern. We surveyed 124 students at various grade levels. Results indicated that Kazakhstani students did not have a strong environmental knowledge base and their awareness of environmental issues is not strong at all, but they had a strong positive environmental attitude. There was no significant relationship between knowledge, attitude, and awareness based on grades in biology, chemistry, physics, math, and geography. Gender did not influence students’ environmental knowledge, attitudes, and awareness but year in school did for environmental knowledge. Kazakhstani students were most concerned about air pollution, pollution of rivers and seas, and flooding, and they were the least concerned with overpopulation, radioactive waste, extinction of species, and climate change. Extracurricular activities did prove useful with increasing students’ knowledge and awareness about environmental challenges but did not impact their environmental attitude. Our results imply that what is being taught about the environment in Kazakhstani schools is not substantial enough. Educators may modify the curriculum to better address environmental issues in the classroom and add more content and activities.

This study aims to examine the impact on environmental attitudes and awareness of kindergarten pupils of an intensive education programme based on basic science process skills including the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle (3Rs)’ paradigm for preschool children. A quasi-experimental pattern with non-equivalent pretest-posttest and with a control group was used. The study was carried out with kindergarten pupils a district located in the Aegean region. The study was conducted with a total of 38 children in four classes, two of them in the experimental group and the remaining two in the control group due to the pandemic conditions. The "Environmental Awareness and Attitude Scale for Preschool Children" was utilised in the study. According to the results obtained in the study, there is a significant difference between the mean scores of the pretest and posttest of the experimental group. In addition, it was found that the mean of posttest scores of the experimental group was significantly higher than the mean of posttest scores of the control group.

The character of caring for the environment and environmental awareness in children occurs from school culture, cultivation and learning in the classroom. This makes a positive habit in children or students. The strengthening of the character of caring for the environment in students will make it a habit for children to become responsible human beings and care about the environment at school. This study aims to describe the environmental awareness profile and environmental care attitude in State Junior High School 2 Kaliori. The research method used in this study uses a quantitative approach with questionnaire data collection techniques. The analysis techniques used are validity tests, reliability tests and descriptive statistics. The results of the study obtained information that the level of environmental awareness at State Junior High School 2 Kaliori received an average score of 78.03 including the category of high environmental awareness. Meanwhile, the profile of the level of environmental care attitude at State Junior High School 2 Kaliori received an average score of 62.84 including the high category. The level of environmental concern attitude in State Junior High School 2 Kaliori in respondents with a high category of environmental concern attitude was 31 people or 68.9 percent and there were 14 respondents with a moderate level of environmental awareness or 31.1 percent. From the results of this research, there are several limitations of the research, namely only focusing on the profile of environmental care attitudes and environmental awareness of students of State Junior High School 2 Kaliori. As for the suggestions for the next researcher, it is hoped to add several other factors that affect environmental awareness and environmental awareness in schools. If there are other factors that affect environmental awareness and environmental awareness, of course, the results are also different, especially with different subjects.

The potential of digital mental health to increase access to and quality of care has gained traction with the rise of smartphones and accelerated with the spread of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. With at least 80% of the global population now owning a device able to capture digital phenotyping signals, analyze data, and run mental health apps, excitement about the imminent arrival of personalized, preventive and precision psychiatry is understandable. Yet, by nearly all outcome metrics, digital mental health is not transforming care1. Whether measured in global trends of deaths from suicide or rising rates of depression, especially among young­er people who are often the first to use digital tools, it is clear that the proclaimed paradigm shift is paused2. The very people who require mental health care the most, underserved populations, have not experienced a rise in access or boon in outcomes, and the burden of mental illness in low- and middle-income countries remains as high as ever. Billions of dollars of resources have been poured into health apps, algorithms and devices with the assumption that later, with a simple step, all people would "cross over" or "trickle across" the digital divide and catch up. However, a variety of digital disparities are now emerging, which are troubling but perhaps also addressable. A focus on supporting digital literacy, improving privacy/evidence for these tools, and creating clinical connections each provides tangible steps for more equitable and impactful digital mental health. As smartphone penetration has accelerated in all countries around the world, blaming the digital divide on a lack of access to devices has become untenable. This narrative now covers lack of Internet access, especially in rural areas. While this is indeed a barrier still requiring work today3, it is one that can and will probably be quickly addressed. But, behind access to the Internet, lies a more challenging first inequity – that concerning digital self-determination. Just as self-determination theory highlights the need for autonomy, competence and connection for psychological thriving, the same is necessary for any digital mental health tools, be they anything from smartphone apps to virtual reality headsets. While the data remain aloof as the topic has not yet been well explored, digital self-determination and the related sub-component of digital literacy remain underdeveloped in populations with the greatest mental health needs4. People may have a smartphone today, but there has not been a concomitant investment in people themselves to ensure that they can equitably engage and benefit from digital mental health tools. Evidence that older adults may find digital health tools more challenging, or that people from underserved backgrounds may engage less certainly, reflects issues with flawed designs of technology and a lack of community engagement, but may also reflect deeper inequities around educational opportunities that today's digital mental health approaches have not yet addressed5. Digital self-determination also means that people may say "no" to using technology for their mental health, and we should honor their choices and voices. A leading reason why people often say "no" is that today digital mental health tools have privacy practices compounded by limited evidence of efficacy. One of the clearest examples of inequity is the lack of privacy offered by most mental health apps. A report by the Mozilla Foundation in March 2022 highlighted ongoing privacy risks among well-known mental health apps. Around the same time in 2022, the suicide hotline service Crisis Textline agreed to stop sharing users' text messages with an outside company after public outcry. The finding that less than 15% of people in the US and UK are willing to share anonymized personal health information with a company for the purposes of improving health care provides a tangible target for improvement6. The lack of trust engendered in health care technology must be reversed, and this can occur with better practices by app developers, demands for privacy by patients and clinicians, and regulation from governments. Without trust, there is no health or mental health, and it is understandable that people do not want their most private and vulnerable information shared in today's digital mental health ecosystem. Furthermore, despite bold claims of efficacy on their websites, most studies in the mental health field do not recruit or sample from the patients with the highest unmet health care needs7. This clear lack of representativeness may explain why many digital technologies fail to offer impressive results in the real world when deployed outside clinical trial conditions. Digital mental health tools need not be perceived as second-class treatments to be utilized when a clinician is not available, but should strive for excellence that exceeds current standards of care. A more subtle but equally insidious bias rests in magnifying current inequalities when machine learning or artificial intelligence algorithms are trained on non-representative populations. As we think of the next generation of studies that can help reverse inequities, it is critical not to justify lower-quality research with the assumption that a digital intervention is better than nothing. If people have a phone, there are many free and effective interventions that can serve as an active control condition (or a digital placebo) to enable actual assessment of efficacy. Coming to the third above-mentioned inequity, connections matter. As isolation and loneliness are recognized as public health threats, digital health tools will be most impactful when they help people form strong social connections instead of motivating them to continue focusing inward. The full potential of remote monitoring innovations, such as digital phenotyping and wearable sensors, as well as digital behavioral interventions, can only be realized when these are well integrated into care and treatment plans. That means that apps, devices and programs must transfer data to and from electronic medical records and that health workers and their workflow must be part of the design process. Yet, less than 25% of apps today even allow such interoperabil­ity8, and, when supported at one major academic hospital, only 1% of people chose to link their app to their electronic health record9. Related, clinicians need training and support to incorporate such new digital health tools. A new workforce will be necessary, with a focus on peer support workers who may mirror the populations that are most impacted by a lack of access to and/or comfortability using technology, and who are ready to provide digital skill training and support. Achieving optimal health, including mental health, means that we must address social/political determinants of health. Technology literacy now is considered a social determinant of health. It also impacts important aspects of people's lives, such as access to competitive employment, education, and even supportive services such as housing or access to other people, as clearly emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic. All of these aspects directly impact mental health and are as critically important as any clinical-focused use. Acknowledgment and integration of these social determinants can make digital tools more relevant and useful to a broader swath of the population with the highest need. Thus, supporting digital self-determination should be the first priority, as it will create demand for new privacy protections, inform how the next generation of evidence will generate the highest quality of representative research, and ensure that new health care services are created to serve people with the highest needs. Developing a new generation of digital mental health tools/services to support more accessible, effective and equitable care is the true innovation ready to be stoked today by each person who becomes empowered to connect, set up, engage, start/stop, and demand more from mental health technology.

In this study, it is aimed to determine the environmental awareness of primary school students and their attitudes towards the environment. The environmental awareness and attitudes towards the environment of 4th grade primary school students have been examined according to the variables of gender, mother's education level, and father's education level. Relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. The study group of the research consists of 90 primary school students (54 girls, 36 boys) studying in a public school in the Central Black Sea Region in the 2020-2021 academic year. The research data has been collected using the "Primary School Environmental Awareness Scale" developed by Yıldız Yılmaz and Mentiş Taş (2017) and the "Primary School Environmental Attitude Scale" developed by Artvinli and Demir (2018). Pearson Correlation Analysis was used to find the relationship between students' environmental awareness and attitudes towards the environment in the data obtained in the study. In order to determine whether primary school students' environmental awareness and attitudes towards the environment change according to the determined variables, the distribution of the data was examined and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, Two-Factor ANOVA for Unrelated Samples, Mann-Whitney U Tests from Non-Parametric Test methods were applied. According to the research findings, it was determined that the general averages of environmental awareness and the environmental responsibility in the sub-dimension of primary school students were at a high level, the sub-dimensions of life in nature and the recyclable energy sources and their usage were at a very high level, and the sub-dimension of the continuity of living things was at a moderate level. It has been found out that the environmental awareness of primary school students has not changed according to the variables of gender, mother's education level, and father's education level. It has been determined that the attitudes and sub-dimensions of primary school students towards the environment are at a moderate level. There was no statistically significant difference in the attitudes towards the environment and its sub-dimensions according to the educational status of the mother. A significant difference has been found in the positive environmental behaviors sub-dimension, which is one of the environmental attitude sub-dimensions, according to the educational status of the father. There was no statistically significant difference between primary school students' environmental awareness and their attitudes towards the environment. In order to increase students' environmental awareness and attitudes towards the environment, it is recommended to plan theoretical and applied activities by associating them with different courses.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0005/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The rapid development of technology and economy in past years has largely enhanced the quality of life. However, the emergence of various social and environmental problems could be discovered when looking back. Implementing the idea of environmental education in school systems therefore becomes a primary issue to promote environmental education. In this case, the practice of governmental policies has to implement the idea of environmental education in school systems, provide complete and comprehensive resources, information, and channels for environmental education, and positively promote the practice of Environmental Protection Law of China and the legislation revision. Aiming at college students in Beijing City, total 322 students in 6 different departments of Minzu University of China are selected as the research objects for the 16-week (3hrs per week for total 48 hours) experimental teaching. Total 322 copies of questionnaire are distributed, and 287 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 89%. The research results reveal significantly positive effects of 1.environmental education on environmental awareness, 2.environmental awareness on environmental attitude, and 3.environmental education on environmental attitude. It is expected to enhance environmental awareness, attitudes, and behaviors related to environmental education based on the revision of Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China.

The rapid development of technology and economy in past years has largely enhanced the quality of life. However, the emergence of various social and environmental problems could be discovered when looking back. Implementing the idea of environmental education in school systems therefore becomes a primary issue to promote environmental education. In this case, the practice of governmental policies has to implement the idea of environmental education in school systems, provide complete and comprehensive resources, information, and channels for environmental education, and positively promote the practice of Environmental Protection Law of China and the legislation revision. Aiming at college students in Beijing City, total 322 students in 6 different departments of Minzu University of China are selected as the research objects for the 16-week (3hrs per week for total 48 hours) experimental teaching. Total 322 copies of questionnaire are distributed, and 287 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 89%. The research results reveal significantly positive effects of 1.environmental education on environmental awareness, 2.environmental awareness on environmental attitude, and 3.environmental education on environmental attitude. It is expected to enhance environmental awareness, attitudes, and behaviors related to environmental education based on the revision of Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China.

This study explored the consumer behavior of intention to purchase green products based on a decision-making model that integrates cognitive attributes, affective attributes, and behavioral intentions in Belt and Road countries. The questionnaires were collected from customers who previously purchased green products; this study distributed the questionnaires at the appliance section of the department stores and collected 227 valid responses. Environmental attitude, product attitude, social influence, and perceived monetary value positively affected purchase intention; among these attributes, product attitude most substantially affected purchase intention. Cognitive values (collective and individual) significantly and positively affected environmental and product attitudes. Regarding individual environmental literacy, objective knowledge did not significantly affect environmental attitude, whereas subjective knowledge positively and significantly affected product attitude. In addition, both environmental awareness and government role (extrinsic motivating attributes) significantly and positively affected environmental and product attitudes for sustainable consumption. Media exposure also exerted a significant positive effect on environmental attitude for reducing, reusing and recycling emissions.

The purpose of the study is to assess the awareness and attitudes of student teachers in Turkey. The relationship between the student teachers' attitudes and their gender, academic major, grade level, geographical region and socioeconomic status (level of family income, their parents' education level and occupation, residence) was evaluated with an instrument developed by the researcher. The present descriptive study was carried out at the University of Adıyaman in Turkey, Faculty of Education on 830 Subjects. A 30-item Likert-type questionnaire containing four dimensions (awareness of environmental issues-AEI, awareness of individual responsibility-AIR, general attitudes towards environmental problems-GAEP and general attitudes towards environmental solutions-GAES) was developed to measure student teachers' environmental attitudes by the researcher. Results of T-test and ANOVA showed that the female elementary student teachers in the last year of an instruction programme who have less than three brothers and sisters with high socioeconomic level (student teachers' income level of family, father's job and education, mother's job, living residence) living in Marmara Region had more positive attitudes towards the four dimensions of environmental attitude than the other student teachers.

The basic purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between environmental awareness, environmental attitude, curiosity and exploration in highly gifted students with structural equation modelling. The secondary aim was to compare highly gifted and non-gifted students’ environmental awareness, environmental attitude, curiosity and exploration levels. Participants were 311 (154 highly gifted, 157 non-gifted) secondary school students in Turkey who volunteered to take part in this study. All of the participants were either 13 or 14 years old, with a mean age of 13.77 years. For gathering data, Environmental Awareness Scale, Environmental Attitude Scale, Curiosity and Exploration-II were used. While analyzing the data, Pearson correlation analysis, independent samples t test, and structural equation model were used. According to the findings, highly gifted students’ environmental awareness, environmental attitude, curiosity and exploration scores were higher than non-gifted students’. Indices of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) indicated that the increase in the curiosity and exploration scores of the highly gifted children increased the environmental awareness; in this case, the environmental attitudes were affected positively.