The Effect of the Nature Education Science Camp on the Middle School Students' Environmental Attitudes and Perceptions

Abstract

In parallel with the rapid increase of environmental problems today, discussions about the effect ofthis on our daily lives and how to prevent problems have become a priority issue in many countries. In ourcountry, especially in Science Curriculums of 2013 and afterwards, raising science literate individuals with highenvironmental awareness and sustainable development awareness is among the important topics. The aim ofthe study carried out in this context is to examine the effects of the out-of-school nature education sciencecamp on the attitudes and perceptions of middle school students towards the environment. One-groupexperimental design was used in the study. The study was carried out with 28 students in the 6th and 7th gradestudying in different public middle schools in the Aegean Region. The study was carried out with the samestudy group as a ten-day nature education science camp in total, five days in two separate periods. During thestudy process, theoretical and applied field trainings on basic science subjects and nature art activities weregiven to the students by field experts. In the study, data were collected with the attitude scale towards theenvironment and the perception scale towards the environment. Data were collected before, during and afterthe experimental application of this study. As a result of the analysis of the data collected, it was determinedthat students' attitudes towards the environment and their perceptions towards the environment improvedafter experimental application. In this context, it can be said that the nature education science camp is aneffective learning method in developing students' attitudes and perceptions towards the environment.