The effect of scientific-scenario based ecological footprint activities on 8th grade students' environmental citizenship levels

The 21st century can be characterized as the period in which human beings are most confronted with environmental problems and their serious consequences. Today, while listing environmental problems, as in the past, it is not about air, water and soil pollution, but extraordinary weather events that occur with global climate changes, large-scale forest fires, destruction of fertile land areas, the decrease in biodiversity that comes with the deterioration of land and aquatic ecosystems and more. It is clear that these problems have consequences that are felt not only locally, but globally. It is seen that the occurrence of these problems in any part of the planet and the spread and consumption activities of the people in that region are directly proportional. In this context, it is important that individuals are raised as individuals who have environmental responsibility and take an active role in the protection of natural ecological stability, that is, they become environmental citizens. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of scientific scenario-based ecological footprint activities on the environmental citizenship levels of 8th grade students. In addition, it was also aimed to determine the views of the students on the use of scientific scenario-based ecological footprint activities. The study group is composed of 38 students studying at a public school in the Şehzadeler district of Manisa province in the 2018-2019 academic year. The study was carried out according to mixed research design in which quantitative and qualitative research methods were used together. For the quantitative dimension of the research, the quasi-experimental design with pretest posttest control group was used. As quantitative data collection tools, 'Environmental Attitude Scale', 'Ecological Footprint Awareness Scale','Environmentally Responsible Citizen Behavior Scale' and the 'Environmental Citizenship Conceptual Understanding Test' developed within the scope of this thesis study were used. The qualitative data of the study, on the other hand, were collected through the 'opinion form', the 'semi-structured interview' conducted individually and with the focus group, and the 'teacher observation notes'. The t-test and ANCOVA analysis carried out in the SPSS-25 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences-25) package program were used to analyse the quantitative data, and content analysis and descriptive analysis were used to analyse the qualitative data. According to the results of the research, there was a significant difference in favor of the experimental group between the environmental attitude and environmental citizenship conceptual understanding scores of the groups after the applications. In both data collection tools, the experimental group scores differed significantly from pretest to posttest, in favor of posttest. While the ecological footprint awareness posttest scores of the experimental and control groups did not differ significantly, there was a significant difference in favor of the post-test from the pre-test to the post-test in the experimental group, but not in the control group. A significant change was observed in the experimental group's ecological footprint awareness, in favor of the posttest, in the sub-dimensions of 'Transportation and Housing' and 'Waste'. It was understood that the scores related to environmentally responsible citizen behaviors did not show a significant change in both the pre-test, post-test, and pre-test to the posttest as well as all sub-dimensions of the scale and were at a 'moderate' level in both groups. It was understood that the scores related to the environmental attitude, ecological footprint awareness and environmentally responsible citizen behaviors related to the gender variable did not show a significant difference in both the pre- and post-tests of the experimental group. However, in the experimental group from the pretest to the post-test, the environmental attitude and ecological footprint awareness scores were found to be significant in favor of the girls' post-test, while the environmentally responsible citizen behavior scores were significant in favor of the boys' pre-test. While the environmental citizenship conceptual understanding scores in the experimental group were significant in favor of the girls in the pretests, it was not significant in the posttests, but it was understood that the scores of both genders in favor of the posttest differed significantly from the pretest to the posttest. In the control group, there was a significant difference from the pretest to the posttest only in girls and in favor of the posttest. In the qualitative dimension, it was understood that the experimental group students presented positive opinions about the practices and showed their positive attitudes and discourses in the classroom activities as well. The students have opinions that they find the practices productive in terms of providing permanence and increasing academic success, that the lessons taught with scenarios create effects that increase curiosity, excitement and lesson motivation, and that they are pleased to present and hear interesting ideas. In addition, it was concluded that the students' awareness of ecological footprints increased in the process, but their views on environmental citizenship did not match with their behaviors. It is thought that this study will contribute to the literature on environmental education, use of scientific scenarios, ecological footprint and environmental citizenship and will shed light on future studies.