The evaluation of environmental consciousness states ofparents and preschoolers

The environmental consciousness is a behaviour that we have to gain in order to leave the world which we are born in as we have met it. Today, which the number of people living on the earth increases, while all kinds of consumption materials are being produced except for the necessities of nutrition and sheltering of such people, they have been harming the environment. Economic systems, which aim to produce more than they consume, do not take point of protecting the environment. If we can not protect a rapidly changing global world adequately, another world to be visited has not been found yet. The favorable environmental conditions are very important for all living beings' survival. However, mankind living in and being a part of the environment, have been using it's natural resources unconsciously. Environmental issues that arise at the global level have been threatening the future of our planet. At this point, people need to be aware of environmental problems. That making people be aware of the environment should be started as soon as possible. However, it is important that the parents, who will also make the children aware of the environment, should have become conscious of the environment and should have gained the environment protectionist attitude. Parents who protect the environment will teach their children by applying this behavior. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the preschoolers who have pre-school education and the environmental conciousness states of their parents. In accordance with this purpose, such questions as "What are the views of the parents about their environmental consiousness?", "What are the views of parents regarding their children's environmental consiousness states" and "What extent are children and parents themselves affected by parents' age, gender, income, educational level, number of children considering their environmental consciousness states? " were searched for an answer in this thesis. The research was conducted in accordance with the screening model out of the quantitative research models. The population of the research is composed of children who have been educated in independent kindergartens in Bartın Province and their parents. The sample group consists of the parents whose children are studying at Bartın Mustafa Aydede Kindergarten. The data were collected by the questionnaire developed by the researcher. The questionnaire consists of three parts. In the first part, there are 7 questions to learn the demographic information of the parents. In the second part, the "Environmental Consciousness Questionnaire for Preschoolers" , consisting of 28 items, is included. In the third part, "Parents' Environmental Consciousness Scale " which was adapted from is included. The questionnaires were developed by reviewing the literature, taking the opinions of academic experts in fields of science, measurement and evaluation and life long learning and 2 pre-school teachers. Environmental consciousness states of preschoolers were assessed according to their parents' views. For this reason, parents were asked to evaluate themselves first and then their children, afterwards the questionnaires were filled out by 90 parents whose children have been studying at through face-to-face interview method. Data obtained by the questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS statistical package program. The reliability of the scales was measured by the Cronbach Alpha (α) statistic and the Cronbach's alpha (α) statistic was ascertained as 0.94 and the Cronbach's alpha (α) statistic was ascertained as 0.866. In this case, the reliability of the scales is high. Demographic information was analyzed by percentage and frequency method and hypothesis tests were analysed through the Independent T-test and One-Way Anova test. As a result of the research, it was identified that environmental consciousness levels of the parents and preschoolers participating in the survey were high. Parents attach importance to environmental education in life long learning. Statistically significant differences between demographic variables and environmental consciousness levels of parents and their children were not found. Diversification of environmental education according to each age and education level is necessary in terms of increasing the social environment consciousness. Environmental consciousness, which is gained especially in the pre-school period, is also important in the sense of improving positive attitude towards the environment in the future. Key words: Pre-school education, Life long learning, Environmental consciousness, Environmental education.