Investigation of attitudes of classroom education department students towards solid waste and recycling according to various variables: MAKÜ example

This study investigated the attitudes of prospective teachers studying in the classroom teaching department towards solid waste and recycling. In the study, a descriptive survey research model was employed to determine pre-service teachers' attitudes towards solid waste and recycling. The students of Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Classroom Education Department were determined on a voluntary basis by purposive sampling method. 137 teacher candidates participated in the study in total. At the end of the research, the attitudes of the students of the classroom education department towards solid waste and recycling according to the grade level variable were at the highest level of the second graders, while the third grades, first grades, and fourth grades respectively. When the attitudes of the primary school teacher candidates towards solid waste and recycling were examined according to the gender variable, the averages of the female candidates were higher than the averages of the male candidates. Although the average of the students from the classroom education department who participated in the activities was higher than the average of those who did not participate in the activities, it was determined that this difference was not statistically significant. Finally, it is seen that the average of the prospective teachers who obtained their knowledge about solid waste and recycling from the media such as the internet, television, advertisement, and newspaper is higher than the average of those who obtained it from school, textbooks and friends.