Determination of carbon footprint levels of social studies teacher candidates and examination of their environmental awareness

In today's world where global warming and environmental problems are increasing, individuals have started to question their impact on nature. In this context, calculation methods such as ecological footprint and carbon footprint have been developed to measure and understand the damages that individuals cause to the environment. Knowing their own carbon footprint ratios can help individuals realize the negative impacts they have on the environment and understand their responsibilities in this regard. Based on the fact that our world is a common living space for all living things, being aware that every behavior we have towards nature has a return can increase our environmental awareness. This increased awareness can contribute to efforts to create a cleaner and healthier world. From this point of view, the aim of the study is to determine the carbon footprint and environmental sensitivity levels of pre-service social studies teachers. Exploratory sequential design, one of the mixed research designs, was used in the study. The research was conducted with 169 pre-service social studies teachers at Afyon Kocatepe University in the 2023-2024 academic year (quantitative part N= 161, qualitative part N= 8). Carbon footprint information test and environmental awareness interview form were used as data collection tools in the study. SPSS 20.0 package program was used for the analysis of the data obtained in carbon footprint calculation, which is the quantitative part of the research. Paired sample t-test was used in statistical data analysis. In the qualitative part, environmental awareness, semi-structured interviews and content analysis methods were used. According to the findings of the study, it was concluded that the carbon footprint levels of pre-service social studies teachers were at a medium level. It was determined that their environmental sensitivity was at a high level.