The effectiveness of the new 9th grade biology curriculum on students’ environmental awareness

Environmental Awareness Questionnaire

The pretest and posttest scores of the experimental and the control groups on the Environmental Awareness Questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistical analyses. Table 2 presents the results of descriptive statistics.

Table 2. Results of Descriptive Statistics of Environmental Awareness Questionnaire

Group	N	EAQ Pretest		EAQ Posttest
Group	N	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Control Group	44	2.06	.336	2.16	.257
Experimental Group	47	2.02	.283	2.35	.315

EAQ: Environmental Awareness Questionnaire

As seen in Table 2, participants of the study were 91 students: The control group had 48.4% and the experimental group had 51.6%. The difference between the EAQ pretest mean scores of the control and the experimental groups was .04 before the treatment. The difference between the EAQ posttest mean scores of the control and the experimental groups was .19 after the treatment, in favor of the experimental group. There was a .10 increase between the EAQ pretest and posttest mean scores of the control group, while the experimental group displayed a .33 point increase between their EAQ pretest and posttest mean scores.

Independent samples t-test analysis was performed for the EAQ pretest and EAQ posttest scores of the control and the experimental groups. Table 3 shows the results of independent samples t-test analysis.

Table 3. Results of Independent Samples t-test Analysis

		Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances		t-test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)	Mean Dif.	Std. Er. Dif.	95% Conf. Int. of the Dif. Lower Upper
EAQ Pretest	Equal var. assumed	.079	.779	.550	89	.584	.036	.065	-.093	.165
EAQ Pretest	Equal var. not assumed			.547	84.354	.586	.036	.065	-.094	.166
EAQ Posttest	Equal var. assumed	2.976	.088	-3.145	89	.002	-.190	.060	-.310	-.070
EAQ Posttest	Equal var. not assumed			-3.166	87.431	.002	-.190	.060	-.310	-.071

EAQ: Environmental Awareness Questionnaire

Table 3 shows that there was no statistically significant difference between the Environmental Awareness Questionnaire pretest mean scores of the control and the experimental groups before the treatment (p > .05). Thus, the control and the experimental groups were assumed to be equivalent. After the treatment, there was a statistically significant difference between the Environmental Awareness Questionnaire posttest mean scores of the control and the experimental groups (p < .05), in favor of the experimental group.

Observation

Treatment duration was five weeks (12 hours). The second author of the paper observed the instruction of the experimental and the control groups and observation notes were taken during the study. There was no interruption to the instruction in either the experimental or the control groups. The experimental group was taught by the instructional methods of the new 9^th grade biology curriculum while the control group received traditional instructional methods. Table 4 gives a comparison of the observation data for the experimental and the control groups.

Table 4. Comparison of the Observation Data for the Experimental and the Control Groups

Control Group

Experimental Group

The duration of course sessions were sufficient for teaching the environmental subjects.
The classroom environment, its formal structure and in-class interaction was appropriate.
The lessons were taught in order in the 9^th grade biology textbook.
The lessons were teacher-centered.
No activity was performed in classes.

The duration of course sessions were sufficient for teaching the environmental subjects.
The classroom environment, its formal structure and in-class interaction was more appropriate.
The lessons were taught in order in the 9^th grade biology textbook.
The lessons were student-centered.
Various activities were performed in classes, including discussions and the project work recommended in the biology textbook.

As seen in Table 4, both the experimental and control group applied the instruction of the new 9^th grade biology curriculum by following the order of the biology textbook. In the control group, only a few students raised their hands when the teacher asked questions. Students did not show much interest to the course even though the teacher was quite active in the classroom. However, the experimental group was taught with various instructional techniques such as discussions, experiments and projects apart from lecturing and question-answer techniques. The students in the experimental group engaged in more research and they were more active than the students in the control group. One of the striking findings related to the experimental group was that the students had more interest in the course from the beginning to the end of the class sessions. During class sessions, they often raised hands, asked questions about the subject and exhibited enthusiasm towards the course. They did not have any difficulty forming groups for the assigned projects and enjoyed working on their projects very much.

Interview

The findings of the interviews with 10 students in the experimental group supported the observation findings in this study. The semi-structured interview form was used to get the experimental group students’ opinions about the instructional methods of the new 9^th grade biology curriculum in this study. Here are some examples of the interview findings, noted below:

Interviewer: What did you think when environmental subjects were taught?

All of the 10 students indicated that the unit was taught in a different way than the other units in the biology course and the students said that they found the courses to be enjoyable. For instance,

“In the biology course, we had not been as active when we were learning other subjects. But now we were more active in class and can freely express our opinions.” (Student 4)

“While learning these subjects, I discovered that I enjoyed the new method more.” (Student 7)

“I really liked this unit and I believed that it would be the most remembered unit.” (Student 9)

The students in the experimental group stated that all of the activities of the ‘Conscious Individual-Environment Unit’ were performed during the treatment, but the activities found in the other units in the biology textbook had not been fully executed. Nine of the students described the activities that were completed as very enjoyable. The opinions of two students are quoted below:

“The activities were very nice and fun. We were relieved from writing; yet, we also understood the subjects taught.” (Student 1)

“We also performed group work while we were doing the activities. All of us had duties in the group. When we performed these duties, we also exchanged information and achieved retention of information.” (Student 3)

Five of the students stated that being prepared for classes was more effective in understanding the subjects. For example,

“I used to get bored with researching, but I did the research assigned by our teacher for this unit and realised that I understood more easily. Also, when I participated in class, my interest in the course increased and I felt happy. I started discovering information.” (Student 5)

On the other hand, Student 2 stated that the new instructional methods and the traditional instructional methods could be deemed the same. The student argued that if the two methods were properly implemented, the results would be the same; the only difference would be the way in which the information was transmitted.

Interviewer: What kind of difficulties did you have when this method was implemented?

All of the 10 students stated that they had a lot of difficulties in obtaining the necessary equipment when this method was implemented. For instance, their families had modest financial means and they were unable to purchase items needed for the courses. Student 9 stated the following regarding the issue:

“I had difficulty in obtaining all the materials needed for the course because we were not in a good financial position. But I did my best to obtain them. Because it increased my participation in class and I learnt more easily.”

Interviewer: Are you satisfied with the way your teacher implemented the method?

Nine of the students indicated that they were satisfied with the new method during the treatment and their non-biology courses were not taught in this same way. Student 1 said that:

“We were not taught this way in other courses. In the biology course we were always active; thus, I thought that our teacher implemented the methods very well. Also, the activities were performed more in this course and this made retention of what we learnt easier.”

Interviewer: In implementing this method, did project work enhance your achievement?

In response to this question, all of the 10 students stated that they enjoyed completing the project-based assignments for the course; they felt excited about creating new products of their own and this was more effective in enhancing their satisfaction with the course. For example,

“In this course, we brought to class more materials or created new products as project work. By project work, we not only repeated the subject as a whole, but also interacted with our friends. For example, we wrote a newspaper for the project work about environment. I really enjoyed the project and I was more sensitive towards environmental problems. Whenever I heard something about environment, it captured my attention and I read and research.” (Student 3)