A research on the ecological footprint awareness of social studies teachers

This research was conducted to determine the ecological footprint awareness of social studies teachers, to determine what they do personally and professionally to reduce the ecological footprint and develop environmental awareness, and to reveal their current awareness of ecological footprint reduction as well as their improvable aspects in reducing the ecological footprint. As a method, exploratory sequential (quantitative priority) design, one of the mixed models, was used. In this context, social studies teachers working within the borders of Muğla province were studied in the 2022-2023 academic year. As a data collection tool, Ecological Footprint Awareness Scale was applied to 101 social studies teachers in the quantitative section, and Ecological Footprint Awareness Interview Form was applied to 16 social studies teachers in the qualitative section. In the analysis of the data, in the quantitative section, Manny-Whitney U test was applied between two independent variables and Kruskal Wallis test was applied between more than two independent groups. In the qualitative section, descriptive analysis was conducted. According to the results of the research, there is no significant difference in the ecological footprint awareness of social studies teachers in terms of age, years of seniority, place of employment, education level, ecological footprint or whether they have received training-courses-seminars on environmental awareness, but there is a significant difference according to gender. has been detected. According to the results of the sub-dimensions, in the energy, laws and food dimensions in the age criterion; It was determined that there was a significant difference in the energy dimension in the education level criterion, and in the recycling, transportation, water consumption and food dimensions in the gender criterion. As a result of the interviews with social studies teachers, social studies teachers pay attention to personal behaviors regarding their awareness of energy use, recycling, environmentally friendly transportation, water consumption, food use and compliance with environmental laws in order to minimize the ecological footprint, and the ecological footprint of the students they teach. It was determined that they carried out in-class and out-of-class practices aimed at developing awareness and environmental awareness behaviors, and as a result of these practices, students' behaviors such as environmental awareness, responsibility and cooperation, and love for nature and animals were developed. In addition, during the implementation process, it was revealed that social studies teachers faced some problems such as low student self-awareness, media encouraging consumption, learning not being translated into behavior, economic reasons, bureaucratic obstacles, lack of lesson hours, and the most common problem they encountered was the unconsciousness of parents. It has been concluded that in order to ensure that ecological footprint awareness practices can achieve their goals, it is necessary to raise awareness of families and students, make legal regulations, organize competitions, include more in the curriculum, organize activities with school and family participation, and organize trips.