The status on the level of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development amongst secondary school students

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the status on the level of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development among secondary school students. The survey was conducted on 340 respondents (n=340) of Form Four and Form Five students from urban and suburban area in the district of Hulu Langat, Selangor (Bandar Baru Bangi and Mukim Hulu Langat). Dependents variables were the level of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development and practices, attitudes and moral values for sustainability. Independent variables on the demographic factors were gender, types of subject streaming, and school locations. The research instrument used was the questionnaire, using Likert scale. Methods of analyzing data were descriptive, t-test, Pearson correlation using SPSS software ver. 11.5. Research outcomes showed that secondary school students had “high level” of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development. The t-test analysis showed significant differences on the significant level of 95% (p<0.05). It indicated that the level of environmental awareness for the (i) female students were “higher” than the male students, (ii) science stream students were “higher” than the arts stream students, and the (iii) urban school students were “higher” than suburban school students. The Pearson correlation showed that there was positive but weak relationship between the level of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development and the practices, attitudes and moral values of sustainability. The research also revealed the three classifications of concepts for environmental awareness were emotional, attitude, and practices of sustainability awareness.