Investigation of the effect of secondary school 12th grade geography lesson on students' waste and recycling attitudes (Diyarbakir example)

The study aims to examine the attitudes of 12th grade students towards waste and recycling in terms of various variables (gender, current department, taking/not taking geography courses, watching documentaries, participating in recycling activities). In the research, data was collected with a quantitative research design and a scanning model was used. The Waste and Recycling Attitude Scale , for which the necessary permissions were obtained from the scale developer, was applied. The population of the research constitutes the province of Diyarbakır. 12th grade numerical and equal-weight branch students studying in Anatolian high schools in the Kayapınar district of Diyarbakır province were determined using the cluster sampling method and included in the study. The research was conducted face-to-face in the spring semester of the 2024-2025 academic year (2nd semester) and 338 data sets were obtained as a result of the application using the simple random sampling method and the obtained quantitative data were analyzed using the SPSS package program. Statistical techniques such as skewness and kurtosis values, Levene homogeneity values, arithmetic mean, standard deviation values, and the t-test for independent samples were used in the data analysis. The reliability coefficient of the scale used in the study was calculated as 0.739 . The variables of the research scale were gender, department/branch they studied in, taking or not taking geography courses, participating in waste and recycling activities, watching documentaries, videos, advertisements, etc. According to the findings obtained from the research, no statistically significant difference was found in the variables of gender, department/branch, taking/not taking geography courses, and participation in waste and recycling activities, according to the t-test results. A statistically significant difference was found in the variable of watching documentaries, videos, commercials, etc., according to the t-test results. The scale applied in the study has sub-dimensions of behavior, interest, evaluation, and savings. Mean scores for the variables in the sub-dimensions studied varied, with male participants having higher mean scores in the behavior and savings sub-dimensions and female participants having higher mean scores in the interest and evaluation sub-dimensions. In the sub-dimension average of the department/branch variable, participants in the equal weight section obtained a high average in the behavior sub-dimension, while participants in the numerical branch obtained a high score in the interest, evaluation, savings sub-dimension. In the variable of taking/not taking geography courses, participants from the equal weight section obtained high averages, while participants from the numerical section obtained high scores in the interest, evaluation, and savings sub-dimensions. In the variable of watching documentaries, videos, advertisements, etc., participants who answered yes to the variable of watching documentaries obtained high averages in all sub-dimensions of behavior, interest, evaluation and savings. In the variable of participation in waste and recycling activities, participants who participated in the activity obtained high averages in the behavior and interest sub dimension, while participants who did not participate in the activity obtained high scores in the evaluation savings dimension. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that students' attitudes were at a sufficient level. The geography course, which was the subject of the study, was found to have a partial impact on students' attitudes. Recommendations based on the findings of this study include increasing efforts to increase students' perspectives on waste and recycling, reviewing and improving curriculum programs to make them more engaging, organizing field trips to waste and recycling facilities, and increasing environmental education.