The students' perceptions about the environmental conceptions, their misconceptions and the reasons

vm ABSTRACT THE STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCEPTIONS, THEIR MISCONCEPTIONS AND THE REASONS (M. Sc. Thesis) Uçal OZEL GAZI UNIVERSITY INSTITUE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES June 2004 The purpose of this study is to determine the awareness and misconceptions of 9. grade students about the environmental related concepts such as greenhouse effect and global warming, acid rain, factors destroying our habitat and the environmental importance of forests in the face of rapidly aggravating environmental conditions. The study also aims at enlightening the opinions of the students on the issues such as whether the world will be able to renew itself and how the environmental problems will effect the coming generations. This study was carried out on 340 high school first year students studying in Prof. Dr. Şevket Raşit Hatipoğlu high school located in Yenimahalle district of Ankara province. In order to determine the general opinions of the students on environmental issues the student were subjected a 27 question Likert type survey (with five choices as I totally agree, I agree, I am not sure, I disagree, I totally disagree) and a 20-IX question five choice test. They were then asked an open ended question in order to reveal their opinions about the issues such as greenhouse effect, depleting ozone layer whether the world will be renew itself, at what proportion will the living organisms be effected by these problems and what other pollutants there are in the atmosphere except those alt ready present. The ratio of the students who answered as" I am not sure" was 28 % for greenhouse effect, 32 % for acid rain and 18% for the depletion in the ozone layer. Although the students though that the greenhouse effect will cause global heating their perception of the greenhouse effect was not solid and they could not correctly evaluate the consequences of it. As regards to depletion of ozone layer, the students were aware that ozone filtered the harmful ultraviolet radiation in the sunlight and sunlight was an indispensable components for the life on earth but they were not able to comprehend the effects of the depletion in the ozone layer and they had non-scientific rumor type opinions relating to greenhouse effect and the acid rain. Although the students were cognizant that acid rain is induced by human activities and the use certain type of coal provokes it, they were not aware that the normal rainwater was acidic and acid rain has no relation with greenhouse effect. The evaluation of the answers the students gave to the multiple-choice questions showed that the students have correct conceptions on environmental issues at a significant ratio. It was observed that they were of the opinion that the world will be able to renew itself as it did up to now and the environmental issues were exaggerated It was also observed that the students were aware the greenhouse effect, acid rain and depletion in ozone layers were undesirable conditions and would cause harmful effects on the environment. For instance they stated "green house effect is bad, it causes acid rain."It was not possible to make a comparative study between the traditional method and constructivist method in teaching the environmental issues since there was no such unit in curricula.. However the test given to the students 15 days after they had been taught with constructivist method revealed that their opinions relating to the environmental issues changed in correct direction