Determining the awareness of secondary school 8th gradestudents towards environmental problems

Especially in recent years, rapidly increasing population, urbanization and technological developments have brought along environmental problems. This situation has paved the way for an increase in research on the environment. It is emphasized by researchers that the way to be followed for the awareness and reduction of environmental problems is undoubtedly through raising environmental awareness. Environmental education has a great place in raising individuals with high environmental awareness and sensitivity. This study aims to examine the awareness of 8th grade middle school students towards environmental problems. In this context, students' awareness of environmental problems was examined in terms of variables such as gender, family education level, family income status, having attended an environmental course, having participated in any environmental protection association activity and having prepared homework related to the environment. At the same time, their perceptions of environmental problems were analyzed through drawing. In order to examine the awareness levels of 8th grade students about environmental problems in more detail, the research was conducted in the explanatory design model, which is one of the mixed research methods in which qualitative and quantitative methods are used together. The quantitative data of the study were collected from 204 8th grade students studying in three different secondary schools in three central districts of Bursa province, Nilüfer, Osmangazi and Yıldırım districts with the 'Awareness Scale for Environmental Problems'. Qualitative data were obtained from a total of 106 students in the same schools with the 'Environmental Problems Drawing Test'. The quantitative data obtained from the research were statistically analyzed using the SPSS 22 program. Content analysis was applied to qualitative data. When the results of the research were analyzed in the light of the sub-problems, it was concluded that environmental awareness did not make a significant difference according to gender, parental education level and family income level. While there was a significant effect on the environmental awareness of students who had previously prepared a homework/research/project/poster etc. related to the environment, there was no significant difference between the students who took environmental education course and those who did not take this course and between the students who participated in any environmental protection association activity and those who did not. Within the scope of the qualitative data obtained as a result of the research, the environmental problems most frequently mentioned by the students were air pollution and garbage, respectively.