Time Spent on Soil Science Topics and Its Influence on Students' Environmental Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine whether classroom time spent on soil science-related topics was correlated with students' environmental knowledge, environmental attitude, and environmental behaviour. Few studies have documented the lack of time for teachers to incorporate soil science-related topics into their curricula, and the limited extent to which these topics are really being implemented. Three hundred and sixty students from three different secondary institutions in the Kuala Terengganu district were questioned using structured and validated questionnaires in this study. The data was analysed using the mean, standard deviation, t-test, analysis of variance and Pearson correlation. In this study, we found that high school students in the sampling area had a moderate degree of environmental knowledge, environmental behaviour, and environmental attitude. It was shown that there were statistically significant differences in environmental knowledge between men and women, and that environmental attitudes varied significantly amongst educational institutions. Environmental attitudes and practice did not differ significantly across sexes, between science and non-science majors, or between schools. According to the results of this research, classroom educators devote an average of only 5.24 hours annually to teaching about soil science. Significant relationships were discovered between environmental knowledge and teachers' time devoted to soil science-related topics in formal education and students' gender; environmental attitude and students' stream; students' gender; and environmental practise; and environmental attitude, students' stream; students' gender; and environmental practise.