Determination of ecological literacy levels and perceptions of social studies teacher candidates

The aim of this study is to determine social studies pre-service teachers' perceptions and levels of ecological literacy, as well as the variables affecting these levels. Since both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from participants simultaneously, the study was designed using the embedded design, one of the mixed methods. The sample of the study was determined through convenience sampling. In this context, the quantitative and qualitative data used in the research were collected from students at all grade levels who voluntarily participated in the study and were enrolled in the Social Studies Education departments of three public universities in Turkey. The study includes quantitative data from 207 participants and qualitative data from 101 participants. The quantitative data were collected using a demographic information form developed by the researcher and the "Ecological Literacy Scale" developed by Koçoğlu, Gürbüz, Tösten, Demir, and Tekdal (2023), while the qualitative data were obtained through a metaphor form also developed by the researcher. After the required approvals were obtained, the questions in the data collection tools were transferred to Google Forms, and the links were shared with advisors in the Social Studies Education departments of the participating universities. After data collection, the data from Google Forms were transferred to SPSS and Excel for analysis. The analyses revealed that the pre-service social studies teachers scored close to a high level on the overall ecological literacy scale and its sub-dimensions. The results of hypothesis tests showed that female pre-service teachers had significantly higher ecological literacy levels compared to their male counterparts, and those who had received environmental education had significantly higher ecological literacy levels compared to those who had not. Another hypothesis test showed that pre-service teachers in upper-grade levels had higher levels of ecological literacy than those in lower-grade levels. Furthermore, it was found that those who spent most of their lives in metropolitan cities had higher ecological literacy levels than those who lived in cities, districts, or villages. Content analysis of the qualitative data obtained from the metaphor form revealed 83 different metaphors provided by the pre-service teachers. The most frequently mentioned metaphors included "being a conscious person/consumer," "gear," "compassion," "breathing," "teacher," "health," "respect," "love," "responsibility," and "soil." A review of the literature revealed many studies with results parallel to those of this research. In light of these findings, considering that ecological literacy is a globally significant concept, it can be suggested that research on ecological literacy should not be limited to social studies teachers but also include other teacher candidates. Furthermore, it can be recommended that future studies examine ecological literacy and related concepts using different sets of variables and measurement tools.