Modelling pre-service science teachers’ environmentally friendly behaviours in relation to psychological and cognitive variables

Date

2014

Author

Alper, Umut

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The aim of the present study is in twofold: (1) to explore pre-service science teacher’s knowledge of environmental issues, attitudinal motives (ecocentric and anthropocentric), internal locus of control, spatial optimism and temporal pessimism, and environmentally friendly behaviours and (2) to investigate the significant determinants of their environmentally friendly behaviours. Data collected from 1497 junior and senior pre-service science teachers through knowledge of environmental issues scale, environmental attitude (ecocentric and anthropocentric) scale, environmental action internal control index, environmental future scale, and behaviour inventory of environmental action: a one-year history Results indicated that Turkish pre-service science teachers who participated to the current study had inadequate level of knowledge about environmental issues. They found to endorse ecocentric attitudes, and express a high degree of internal locus of control as well as spatial optimism and temporal pessimism. They also found to exhibit moderate level of environmentally friendly behaviour. In order to examine the significant predictors of environmentally friendly behaviours, path analysis was conducted. Results revealed that attitudinal motives, internal locus of control, spatial optimism and temporal pessimism directly predict pre-service science teachers’ environmentally friendly behaviours whereas knowledge of environmental issues indirectly. However, knowledge of environmental issues was found to indirectly affect pro-environmental behaviours of Turkish pre-service science teachers.

Subject Keywords

Environmental protection, Environmentalism, Science teachers, Student teachers, Student teachers, Elementary school teaching.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12617893/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/23947

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis