An examination of middle school teachers' knowledge levels on global warming and their awareness of climate change

Global climate change has emerged as one of the most critical environmental issues facing the world today. In recent years, the significance of this topic has become increasingly evident and has been addressed by the Ministry of National Education (MEB) in Turkey. Following Turkey's signing of the Paris Agreement, the elective course "Environmental Education" at the middle school level was updated and renamed as "Environmental Education and Climate Change." Although this course is predominantly taught by Science teachers, climate change being an interdisciplinary subject makes it important to examine the knowledge and awareness levels of teachers from various branches. Within this context, the present study analyzes the knowledge levels related to global warming and climate change awareness among branch teachers working in middle schools, considering various variables. The findings indicate that while there are some gaps in knowledge among teachers, overall they possess sufficient information about global warming. Furthermore, it was determined that teachers have a high level of awareness regarding climate change.