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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 19, Issue 1, Article 3 (Jun., 2018) |
Upon examination of the theme of natural environment and related sub-themes, it was found that both the number and the diversity of responses of the prospective teachers increased (Figure 4). Although there was no great increase in the total frequency of responses evaluated under the living things sub-theme (f1=137; f2=140), the number of responses increased from 15 to 22. In the sub-themes of non-living things and ecological concepts, both the number of responses and the increase in their total frequencies were found to be higher (Figure 4).
Figure 4. The change in natural environment theme.In the sub-theme of living things, the responses ‘human’, ‘animal’, ‘plant’ and ‘live’ were given by more respondents in the second application than in the first. Fewer prospective teachers gave responses of ‘tree’, ‘greens/grass’, ‘flower’, ‘friend/neighbour’, ‘family’ or ‘society’. Moreover, although few prospective teachers gave the response, responses such as ‘fungus’, ‘microorganism’ and ‘virus’ were also included in the second application (Table 1).
In the sub-theme of non-living things, the responses ‘air’, ‘earth’ and ‘sun’ were prominent. Results showed that in both applications, these responses were given by a large number of prospective teachers. In the second application, ‘atmosphere’, ‘temperature’, ‘fossil’ and ‘rain’ responses were added to these. However, it was seen that the number of prospective teachers who gave these responses was very limited (Table 1).
Table 1. Responses under natural environment theme and their frequencies
Sub-themes Living things
(N1=15; N2=22)Non-living things
(N1=9; N2=21)Ecological concepts
(N1=5; N2=18)Responses
f1
f2
Responses
f1
f2
Responses
f1
f2
Human
18
29
Air
4
6
Nature
12
20
Tree
32
24
Sky/Blue
4
2
Forest
10
6
Animal
11
17
Sun
3
4
World
1
4
Green/Grass
15
12
Soil
3
3
Ecosystem
1
5
Plant
3
15
Sea
2
2
Spring
1
1
Flower
14
7
Oxygen
2
3
Habitat
-
4
Friend/Neighbour
13
2
Water
2
3
Ecology
-
6
Society
6
4
Non-living things
1
3
Biodiversity
-
1
Living things
3
8
Stream
1
-
Population
-
2
Family
7
1
Atmosphere
-
2
Species/member
-
2
Child
3
3
Temperature
-
1
Niche
-
2
Dog
4
2
Carbon dioxide
-
1
Evolution
-
1
Bird
3
2
Cloud
-
1
Producer
-
1
Bug
3
-
Mountain
-
1
Consumer
-
1
Cat
2
2
Rock
-
1
Community
-
1
Fungus
-
3
Fossil
-
1
Biology
-
2
Microorganism
-
2
River
-
1
System
-
1
Virus
-
2
Nitrogen
-
1
Cycle
-
1
Seed
-
1
Ozone
-
1
Mammal
-
1
Rain
-
1
Caterpillar
-
1
Spring
-
1
Daisy
-
1
Rainbow
-
1
Leaf
-
1
Total
137
140
Total
22
40
Total
25
61
The second application, which was performed after the respondents had successfully completed courses such as Biology, Ecology, Geology, etc. which were expected to influence their environmental perceptions, shows the increase in the diversity of responses. In the sub-theme of ecological concepts, the diversity of responses was quite high. While the responses of ‘nature’, ‘forest’, ‘world’, ‘ecosystem’ and ‘spring’ were given in the first application, concepts such as ‘habitat’, ‘species’, ‘population’, ‘community’, ‘producer’ and ‘consumer’ were added to these in the second application (Table 1).
Of the responses given by the prospective teachers to the key concept of the environment, ten in the first application and 13 in the second application are related to environmental problems. There was a limited increase in the diversity of responses in the second application. However, the total frequency increased from 12 to 43 (Figure 5). The largest part in this increase was the ‘pollution’ response. In the first application, only one prospective teacher gave the pollution response, while in the second application this number increased to 16. While responses such as ‘factory’, ‘problem’ and ‘erosion’ were not given in the first application, they were given in the second application by prospective teachers (Table 2).
Figure 5. The change in the number and frequency of responses in the themes of artificial environment, environmental problems, emotions and situations.In the artificial environment theme, there was a decrease between the two applications in both the response type (N1=19; N2=15) and the total frequency of these responses (f1 =63; f2=33) (Graph 2). Of these, the responses ‘home’, ‘building/apartment’ and ‘car/vehicle’ were prominent in both applications (Table 2). In the theme of emotions and situations, the number of responses in both applications (N1=21; N2=23) and their total frequency (f1 =40; f2=48) were close to each other (Figure 5). In both applications, responses of ‘life’, ‘clean’, ‘protection’ and ‘order’ seemed to be prominent (Table 2).
From the sentences formed by prospective teachers regarding the key concept of the environment, one in the first application and five in the second application were evaluated as unrelated. When the distribution of the other sentences formed according to the themes were analysed, it was seen that in both applications the most-used concept was environment to be protected. In the first application, 23 prospective teachers’ sentences and in the second application, 28 prospective teachers’ sentences were evaluated under this theme in this study (Table 3).
Table 2. Responses and their frequencies in the themes of artificial environment, environmental problems, emotions and situations
Artificial Environment
Environmental Problems
Emotions and Situations
Responses
(N1=19; N2=15)f1
f2
Responses
(N1=10; N2=13)f1
f2
Responses
(N1=21; N2=23)f1
f2
Home
13
6
Traffic
1
Love
1
-
Building/ Apartment
8
5
Noise/sound
3
3
Life
5
9
Neighbourhood/ street/avenue
7
1
Petrified structures
1
Friendship
1
-
Outside our home
1
-
Pollution
1
16
Safety
1
-
Garden
2
-
Cigarette
1
Happiness
1
-
Park
5
3
Smoke
1
-
Clean
9
7
School
3
5
Litter
1
6
Health
1
2
Dormitory
1
-
Problem
-
4
Protection
3
3
Car/vehicle
4
4
Crowded
1
2
Safe
1
-
Litter bin
5
-
Waste treatment plant
1
-
Decent
1
-
Workplace
1
-
Theme
1
-
Discipline
1
-
Market
1
-
Industry
1
-
Order
2
3
Tent
1
-
Factory
-
4
Power
1
-
Barbecue
1
1
Erosion
-
2
Relationship
1
-
Road
3
1
Waste
-
1
Book
1
-
Pond
1
-
Recycling
-
1
Hobby
1
-
Dam
1
-
Petrol
-
1
Entertainment
4
2
Channel
1
-
Economy
-
1
Travel
1
-
Country/City/ Town
4
1
Gas
-
1
Bad habit
1
-
Concrete
-
1
Crowded
1
2
Settlement
-
1
Picnic
2
1
Paper
-
1
Boring
-
1
Farm
-
1
Serenity
-
2
Sidewalk
-
1
Calmness
-
1
Nuclear power plant
-
1
Consciousness
-
3
Suffering
-
1
-
Sharing
-
1
Emotion
-
1
Complexity
-
1
Value
-
1
Virtual environment
-
1
Picture
-
1
Wonder of nature
-
1
Natural life
-
2
Crime
-
1
War
-
1
63
33
12
43
40
48
In these sentences, respondents often emphasized the negative effects of people on the environment. They also mentioned the effects of environmental problems on people and that they were less concerned with their effect on other living things. The emphasis on the need for protection of the environment was high. However, the precautions to be taken were rarely mentioned. Prospective teachers presented gaining consciousness, not littering and keeping the environment clean as a protection element. Some examples are provided below.
Life will be more beautiful if our environmental consciousness increases.
People need to do their best to protect our environment and nature.
People destroy the environment and nature by destroying vegetation and polluting seas.
Table 3. Distribution of sentences formed by theme
Theme 2nd grade
4th grade
Total
Environment to be protected
23
28
51
Environment as setting
15
12
27
Environment as a social life area
15
3
18
Environment as system
1
7
8
Total
54
50
104
Another theme which was frequently mentioned in the respondents’ sentences was environment as habitat. In the first application, 14 and in the second, 12 respondents’ sentences were evaluated under this theme (Table 3). We interpreted that respondents regard environment as a ‘place where people live’, a ‘place where living things live’ and a ‘place where living things and non-living things are located’ (Table 4).
Table 4. Theme of environment as habitat
Sub-theme 2nd grade
4th grade
Total
Place where people live
6
3
9
Place where living things live
2
4
6
Place where living things and non-living things are located
7
5
12
Total
15
12
27
As in the following examples, it was seen that the number of respondents indicating that environment is the place where people live was six in the first application and three in the second. In addition, the number of respondents perceiving environment as a place where not only people live, but also living things live, increased from two to four. From this, it is understood that the human-oriented perspective of respondents reduced with their education, but it still continued.
The place where people live together. (Place where people live sub-theme)
By knowing his/her environment, a person must know what kind of habitat he/she is in. (Place where people live sub-theme)
People live together with animals and plants in the environment. (Place where living things live sub-theme)
Environment is a place where living things such as animals, plants, fungus live. (Place where living things live sub-theme)
One of the most notable findings was that the number of prospective teachers who perceived the environment as a social life area was 15 in the first application, while it decreased to three in the second application. Some example sentences are given below.
The people in our environment are very friendly.
The environment is everything that characterizes me, it is everything that is friend, family, book, and nature.
The environment can colour human life and it may be upset from time to time.
The perception of environment as system, examples of which are given below, was emphasized in the sentence of one prospective teacher in the first application, while in the second application this number increased to seven, which gave the impression that with the education they received, prospective teachers’ perception of the environment and understanding of social environment weakened and there was a tendency towards themes from the ecological database (Table 3).
Environment is an ecosystem set up with an order.
Environment is a system consisting of people, animals, houses, trees and mountains.
