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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 11, Issue 2, Article 11 (Dec., 2010) |
Before sustainable life education
Prior to the study, pre-service science teachers were asked to answer this question: “What is an ecological footprint?” The aim was to determine whether they had some prior knowledge about the concept. All of the pre-service science teachers replied to this question “I have no idea” in the pre-test. In the view of such data, it is seen that until the third year of university pre-service science teachers, who participated in the research, had no idea about the ecological footprint, which has an important place in sustainable life.
Results Associated with Distribution of the Ecological Footprints of Pre-Service Teachers
Table I shows the central tendency and distribution statistics of the values, which were obtained from the answers of pre-service science teachers who participated in the ecological footprint quiz and subsequent research.
Table I. Ecological Footprint Statistical Analysis Results (n=49)
Ecological Footprint
Food
Housing
Transportation
Goods/Services
Mean
3.91
1.70
1.01
0.17
1.03
Median
3.90
1.70
1.00
0.10
0.90
Std. Deviation
1.26
0.36
0.56
0.21
0.58
As it seen in Table I, food (average=1.70) makes the biggest, and transportation (average= 0.17) makes the smallest contribution to the ecological footprint of the pre-service science teachers (average=3.91). However, housing (average=1.01) and goods/services (average=1.03) effect the ecological footprint at very similar levels. The average ecological footprint of the pre-service science teachers is 3.91 global hectares, which is more than the average ecological footprint of Turkey (total 2.7 global hectares according to Living Planet Report (2008). While average global footprint is 2.7 global hectares per-capita in the world, pre-service science teachers have an ecological footprint of 1.21 global hectares. This situation indicates that pre-service science teachers will need two worlds more to maintain their lifestyles in this way. No pre-service teacher participating in the research had a private car; all of them use mass transportation, hence, the ecological footprint turned out to be smallest in the transportation category.
After sustainable life education
After the sustainable life education, pre-service science teachers were asked the question, “What is the ecological Footprint? Define it in your own words?” Post-study views of the pre-service science teachers on this subject are shown in Table II collecting them in the associate categories.
Table II. The Views of Pre-service Science Teachers about the Ecological Footprint Concept
Categories %
(Percentage)The total effect of human on the world
36
Biologically productive land and water areas required to produce all the resources an individual consumes and to absorb the waste they generate
24
Intuitional measurement of the effect of individual/society on nature
19
Indicator of sustainability
3
Environment policy and the calculation instrument used for environmental management
3
Others
15
* Students gave answers, which were included in more than one per category.
Some of the expressions of the pre-service teachers which are under the category of “the total effect of the human being on the world” are as follows:
16th person: “The load that the individuals living in the society leave on the world is called the ecological footprint. In the other words, the effects of people on the environment.”
25th person: “The total of the positive and negative effects of the living beings while they maintain their lives is called the ecological footprint.”
33rd person: “The mathematical expression of the total effect of using material and energy and harmful wastes that living beings give to nature; in brief, all effects of the living beings that maintain their life on nature. The effect is the print that human beings leave in the nature.”
49th person: “The total effect of the wastes that human beings take from the nature and give back through consumption is called the ecological footprint.”
Some of the views of the pre-service teachers that participated in the research under the category of “biologically productive land and water area required to produce all the resources an individual consumes and to absorb the waste they generate” are as follows:
1st person: “It is the product that human beings use from their birth until their death and the biological area that is necessary to absorb the wastes of these products.”
13th person: “We can say the area of nature of the human beings use. The footprint, which humans should have in the world, has been calculated by dividing the total usable productive area in the world by the total population. But the footprints of the countries show that in the near future the world cannot be enough for us anymore.”
35th person: “The measure that shows the biological area someone uses considering the production and consumption of this person on the world.”
41st person: “The ecological footprint is the biological area that is required for consumption and the wastes caused by consumption. The ecological footprint of someone is the measurement that shows the required biological area for life profile.”
Some of the expressions of the pre-service teachers participated in the research, which are under the category of “intuitional measurement of the effect of individual/society on nature”:
6th person: “The ecological footprint, however, is a measure indicating that some ecological limitations are a criterion that guides us to have sustainable lifestyles.”
10th person: “It is the examination of the production and consumption possibilities of a human being on the world and the measurement of the harm human beings on nature.”
27th person: “In brief, we can say it is a measurement and an instrument that is used to measure the impact of human beings on nature. Our ecological footprint is bigger if we harm the environment more. If we adopt a sustainable life model, our ecological footprint can diminish and we can become friendly toward the environment.”
30th person: “We can express it as the load that human beings impose on the nature because of their consumption habits.”
41st person: “The ecological footprint of someone is the measurement that shows the required biological area for their life profile.”
Some of the expressions of the pre-service teachers who participated in the research are under the category of “environment policy and the calculation instrument used for environment management”:
3rd person: “The footprint, which humans should have in the world, has been calculated dividing the total usable productive area on the world by the total population. However, the footprints of countries show that in the near future the world cannot be enough for us anymore. The ecological footprint is actually a calculation instrument that is used by countries for their environmental management and policies.”
38th person: “Thanks to ecological the footprint we can measure how much nature we use. In this manner, the countries can determine their environmental policies.”
Some of the expressions of the pre-service teachers who participated in the research are under the category of “indicator of sustainability”:
12th person: “An ecological footprint is the indicator of the sources that a person produces and consumes and that includes the total impacts of the person on the world and therefore on sustainability of the life”
43rd person: “It is the indicator of how harmful or how beneficial we are to our environment. In the other words, it is the indicator of how sustainable we use nature.”
Some of the expressions of the pre-service teachers participated in the research, which are under the category of “other”:
2nd person: “It is the total of the contacts of a human being with nature in his life. The water he pollutes, the water he wastes, and the flower he picks up in park are included in this concept.”
4th person: “.Our consumption habits determine our ecological footprint. And the wastes we produce increase our ecological footprint.”
18th person: “[It] is s the thing that human beings take from the nature and leave in the nature”
19th person: “...our consumption habits and lifestyles determine our ecological footprint.”
43rd person: “...our place in the nature.”
45th person: “The natural sources human beings consume and the wastes they leave in nature.”
