The effect of environmental education with documentaries on environmental literacy and awareness of environmental ethics

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of environmental education through documentaries on the environmental literacy and environmental ethics awareness of high school students. In the research, weak experimental design, one group pretest-posttest design, which is one of the quantitative research designs, was used. In the study, environmental literacy was discussed in the sub-dimensions of environmental knowledge, affective tendencies towards the environment and responsible behavior towards the environment. Purposive sampling method was used while forming the research group. In accordance with the purpose of the research, since the Ecosystem Ecology and Current Environmental Problems unit is in the 10th grade, a research application was carried out with 55 students who were studying in the 10th grade in the second semester of the 2021-2022 academic year in a high school in Denizli, where the researcher also worked as a teacher. With the documentary-focused 5E lesson plans, the unit topics were covered over a nine-week period. In this direction, the data of the research were obtained by applying the Ecosystem Ecology Current Environmental Problems Examination, the Environmental Affective Tendency Scale, the Environmentally Responsible Behavior Scale and the Environmental Ethics Awareness scales as pre-test and post-test. In line with the findings, it was concluded that the education carried out with documentaries throughout the Ecosystem Ecology and Current Environmental Problems unit was effective in the development of students' environmental literacy and awareness of environmental ethics.