An investigation of secondary school students' knowledge and awareness of global warming: The case of Samsun province

In this study, the sociodemographic factors associated with secondary school students' knowledge about global warming and their perception levels towards preventing global warming were examined. The population of the study consists of all secondary school students continuing their education in Vezirköprü district of Samsun province. The sample of the study consisted of 705 secondary school students who were selected by convenient sampling method and who continued their education in 11 different secondary schools. As a data collection tool, a personal information form developed by the researcher was used to obtain information about the school attended by secondary school students, gender, grade level, parental education level, perceived family income level, the place where they spend most of their lives, perceived general achievement level, general academic grade point average, and where and when they first heard the concept of global warming. In addition, the Global Warming Knowledge Determination Scale was used to measure the knowledge level of secondary school students about global warming, and the Global Warming Perception and Opinion Determination Questionnaire was used to measure their perception level about preventing global warming. In order to examine the differences in the total mean scores of the Global Warming Knowledge Determination Scale and the Global Warming Prevention Perception and Opinion Determination Questionnaire according to the gender and longest residence of secondary school students, independent samples t-test, grade level, mother and father education level, one-way analysis of variance was used to examine the differences in the total mean scores of the Global Warming Knowledge Determination Scale and the Global Warming Prevention Perception and Opinion Determination Questionnaire according to perceived family income level, perceived academic achievement and overall academic achievement grade point average. Simple linear regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between students' knowledge about global warming and their perceptions towards preventing global warming. As a result of the research, it was found that secondary school students' levels of knowledge about global warming and perceptions about global warming prevention did not differ significantly according to gender, mother's education level, father's education level, family income level, and the place where they spent most of their lives. In addition, it was found that secondary school students' levels of knowledge about global warming and perceptions about global warming prevention showed a significant difference according to grade level, perceived academic achievement level and general academic grade point average. Finally, it was found that as the level of knowledge of secondary school students towards global warming prevention increased, they had more positive perceptions towards global warming prevention and as the level of knowledge of secondary school students towards global warming prevention increased, they had more positive perceptions towards global warming prevention.