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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 12, Issue 2, Article 5 (Dec., 20111) |
Research Question 1: What are primary school pre-service teachers’ environmental attitudes?
Descriptive statistics concerning Turkish pre-service primary school teachers’ responses to the EAQ are represented in Table 2. The results of descriptive statistics showed that from the questionnaire pre-service primary school teachers obtained a mean score of 152.62 with a standard deviation of 12.17. Based on this result, it can be concluded that pre-service teachers have a high attitude toward environment. When considering the scores obtained from the subscales of EAQ, it can be easily seen that pre-service teachers have a moderate awareness of environmental problems (M = 35.81, SD = 5.08), have a high attitude toward solutions (M = 51.30, SD = 5.89), have a high awareness of individual responsibility and attitude through changing lifestyles (M = 49.83, SD = 5.65) and a moderate awareness of national environmental problems (M = 18.64, SD = 2.57).
N
Min.
Max.
M
SD
AEP
2067
15.00
65.00
35.81
5.08
GAS
2067
18.00
81.00
51.30
5.89
AIR
2067
20.00
68.00
49.83
5.65
ANEP
2067
6.00
31.00
18.64
2.57
Total
2067
60.00
237.00
152.62
12.178
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for four subscales of EAQ
Descriptive statistics showed that majority of pre-service primary school teachers do not believe that environmental pollution is a temporary problem (f = 1521, 73.6% ), mankind is very adaptive so there is no need to be concerned about his survival in a polluted environment (f = 1748, 84.6% ). Based on these results it can be said that the pre-service teachers are aware of environmental pollution and effects of pollution on human beings survival. The frequency and percentages of disagreement to the statement “environmental problems have always existed, and been solved, so there is no need to worry about the nature” (f = 1768, 85.5%) and the agreement to the statement “society should encourage the conservation of nature” (f = 1698, 82.1%) are the signs of high attitudes toward solutions to environmental problems.
Almost all of the pre-service primary school teachers agreed with the statements representing their awareness toward individual responsibilities such as “we must conserve our resources for future generations” (f = 1865, 90.2%), “individual responsibilities are very important in protecting the environmental pollution (f = 1900, 92.0%) and “the hole in the ozone layer will never stop growing if we continue to operate as we do now” (f = 1814, 87.7%). Besides, pre-service primary school teachers agreed with the statements such as “there are many plant and animal species in our country that are at the edge of extinction” (f = 1722, 83.3%), and the solution of environmental problems in Turkey is closely related with raising environmental awareness” (f = 1747, 84.5%).
Sub-scalesItems
Disagree
Undecided
Agree
f
P
f
P
f
P
AEP
3- Environmental pollution is a temporary problem.
1521
73.6
198
9.6
331
16.0
AEP
6- Mankind is very adaptive so there is no need to be concerned about his survival in a polluted environment.
1748
84.6
109
5.3
183
8.9
AIR
14- We must conserve our resources for future generations.
142
6.9
42
2.0
1865
90.2
GAS
16- Environmental problems have always existed, and been solved, so there is no need to worry about the nature.
1768
85.5
112
5.4
167
8.1
ANEP
23- There are many plant and animal species in our country that are at the edge of extinction.
145
7.0
89
4.3
1722
83.3
AIR
24- Individual responsibilities are very important in protecting the environmental pollution
100
4.8
50
2.4
1900
92
AIR
25- The hole in the ozone layer will never stop growing if we continue to operate as we do now.
136
6.6
68
3.3
1814
87.7
GAS
40- Society should encourage the conservation of nature.
167
8.1
164
7.9
1698
82.1
ANEP
42- The solution of the environmental problems in Turkey is closely related with raising environmental awareness.
164
7.9
119
13.7
1747
84.5
AIR
44- Economical use of water and energy is important for the sustainable use of natural resources.
115
5.6
90
4.4
1832
62.6
AIR
45- Everybody has a part in environmental degradation but it changes according to the individual consumption patterns.
138
6.7
166
8.0
1701
82.3
Table 3. Frequencies and percentages of responses to selected items of EAQ
Research Question 2: Are there differences between male and female pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward environment?
To show whether there are significant differences between male and female pre-service teachers with respect to their attitudes toward environment independent samples t-test were run. The results revealed that there was a statistically significant mean difference (t = 2.03, p = .04) between males and females in favor of females with a large effect size (η2= .99). This means that the result is both statistically and practically significant. Considering the subscales of EAQ, significant mean differences were found between males and females for GAS (t = 2.63, p = .01) and AIR (t = 4.90, p = .00) in favor of females. For the subscales of AEP (t = -1.77, p = .07) and ANEP (t = -1.50, p = .133) no significant differences were found with respect to the gender (see Table 4).
VariableGroup
N
M
SD
t
p
AEP
Females
1296
35.66
4.63
-1.77
.07
Males
771
36.06
5.74
GAS
Females
1296
51.57
5.49
2.63
.01
Males
771
50.86
6.50
AIR
Females
1296
50.30
5.22
4.90
.00
Males
771
49.04
6.24
ANEP
Females
1296
18.58
2.37
-1.50
.13
Males
771
18.76
2.88
Total
Females
1296
153.08
11.78
2.09
.04
Males
771
151.83
15.22
Table 4. The results of t-test analysis
Research Question 3: Are there differences among pre-service teachers attending different grade levels with respect to their environmental attitudes?
To investigate whether there are significant mean differences among pre-service primary school teachers attending different grade levels, ANOVA was run. The results showed that there were no significant differences (F(3, 2063) = 1.676, p = .170) between pre-service teachers based on grade level variable with respect to their environmental attitudes.
