The evaluation of environmental perceptions of primary school fourth grade students and their attitudes and behaviors towards the environment

This study aims to identify environmental perceptions of primary school fourth grade students as well as their attitudes towards environment and responsible behaviors towards the environment. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to achieve this goal. The population of this study, which is designed as a descriptive survey model, consists of fourth grade students who are attending public primary schools in Kocaeli Province in the second term of 2018-2019 academic year. Multi-stage sampling was conducted in the sampling process. Convenience sampling, one of purposive sampling methods, was used in the first stage. Accordingly, Dilovası District, where the air pollution is the highest, Kandıra District, where the air pollution is lowest, and İzmit District as the central district, were included in the sample in the first stage. In the second stage, Başiskele District and Kartepe District, out of 9 remaining districts, were included in the sample randomly. In the third stage, the schools in districts, which were included in the sample, were selected randomly. Accordingly, the public schools, where the research was conducted in each district, were identified randomly, taking into account the figures calculated with the sampling formula. Therefore, the sample of this study consists of 1424 fourth grade students attending in schools randomly selected from these districts. Quantitative data of the research were collected through 'Attitude Towards the Environment Scale' developed by the Researcher, 'Responsible Behavior Towards the Environment Scale' developed by Yaşaroğlu (2012), and 'Personal Information Form', and qualitative data were collected through an interview form consisting of a semi-structured questions. Quantitative and qualitative data collected have been analyzed separately. Separate data groups were used for Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis at the stage of developing the 'Attitude Towards the Environment Scale'. In the process of Exploratory Factor Analysis, Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin and Barlett tests were used to check whether data structure was suitable for factor analysis for practice scale. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test result was ,877 and Barlett test result was 1623,380 (p<,01) for the Scale. As a result of the Exploratory Factor Analysis, the reliability coefficient of the scale consisting of 3 factors and 15 items was found to be Cronbach's Alpha ,871 and it was seen that three dimensions of the scale represented %54,99 of total variance. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was carried out in another group for the purpose of examining the validity of the Scale. According to the results of the analysis using Satorra-Bentler Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method, goodness of fit indices of the scale (S-B χ2/sd=2,970; RMSEA= ,039; CFI= ,93; IFI=,94; TLI=,92; MFI=,93) were within acceptable values. Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was found ,887 for the entire scale; ,820 for the first factor; ,758 for the second factor; ,716 for the third factor. These findings indicate that the construct obtained from the Exploratory Factor Analysis has been confirmed with Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Qualitative data were evaluated by content analysis and descriptive analysis methods at the stage of analyzing the research data. Inter-rater reliability was evaluated by inter-rater reliability formula and Cohen's Kappa Coefficient. Statistical package program was used for the analysis of quantitative data. Non-parametric tests were used in the analyses for the 'Attitude Towards the Environment Scale'. Accordingly, Mann Whitney U-Test was used for Independent Samples for variables with two-categories, and the Kruskall Wallis H-test was used for Independent Samples for variables with more than two-categories. In cases when the Kruskall Wallis H-test for Independent Samples was significant, Mann Whitney U-Test for Independent Samples was used to identify between which groups there were significant differences. Parametric tests were used for the 'Responsible Behavior towards the Environment Scale'. Accordingly, the independent sample t-test was used for variables with two-categories, and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for variables with more than two-categories. If variance analysis was significant, the Sheffe Multiple Comparison Test was used to identify between which groups there was difference. Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient was used to analyze whether there was a significant relationship between students' attitudes towards the environment and their responsible behaviors towards the environment. According to the findings of the research, inter-rater reliability was high and acceptable in both statistics. Fourth grade students created 45 different and acceptable metaphors about the environment. These metaphors were analyzed in terms of their common features and were collected under 5 different conceptual categories. It was revealed that fourth grade students mostly referred to the environment with the metaphors of 'Life', 'Home', 'Paradise', and that students' perceptions of the environment are related to a good world. The majority of students perceived the concept of 'Environment' as 'Environment as Expression of Vitality'. It was revealed that students' attitudes towards the environment were at a high level, that female students had significantly and relatively positive attitude than male students, that younger students had significantly and relatively positive attitude than the older ones. It was found that the frequency of the students' responsible behaviors towards the environment was 'I do it frequently', and the students with pets had a more responsible behavior towards the environment. Considering the students'mean ranks of attitude and mean values of responsible behaviors, the students' mean ranks of attitudes and mean values of responsible behaviors increased as their parents' prestige (level of education, occupation and average monthly income) increased. As a result of the research, it was revealed that a moderate positive correlation between students' attitudes towards the environment and their responsible behavior towards the environment. Accordingly, it can be said that the responsible behaviors of the students towards the environment increases relatively as their attitudes towards the environment increases positively.