The 8. grade of secondary school students' opinions ondecreasing the global warming

Climate change due to global warming is one of the biggest problems facing humanity and is very important for social development. Addressing these issues within the scope of science education helps students to improve their ability to cope with environmental problems. The main purpose of the study is to examine the awareness of 8th grade middle school students about the factors affecting global warming and their behaviors that increase global warming. In line with this general purpose, sequential exploratory design, one of the mixed method research types, was used. In the 2022-2023 academic year, 335 students studying in the 8th grade in three secondary schools in Çankaya District of Ankara Province participated in this study. In the study, "easily accessible case sampling"method was used. A semi-structured interview form and the "Global Warming Awareness Questionnaire" developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The results obtained from the research show that students mostly gave correct answers to the environmental problems they encounter in daily life such as environmental pollution, air pollution and wastes, but they gave incomplete answers about the greenhouse effect and global warming. Students state that issues involving positive behaviors such as not throwing garbage on the street, giving unused items to other people, and afforestation will reduce global warming. However, it is seen that they could not fully establish a relationship between global warming and seemingly non-negative topics such as red meat consumption and the use of air conditioners in summer. Therefore, it was concluded that it is important to teach students the indirect relationship between red meat consumption, the emission of gases that threaten global warming such as methane and global warming. As a result of the qualitative findings, students emphasized the need to exhibit individual and social exemplary behaviors in order to prevent global warming. They stated that collective or social activities should be organized to protect the environment. Considering the results of the study, it is recommended that printed and digital materials should be prepared in accordance with the developmental levels of students, and teachers should include more environmental problems and out-of-school learning practices in their lessons. Keywords: Global Environmental problems, Global warming, Climate change, Student views