AN INVESTIGATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY LEVELS AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION IMAGES OF 7TH YEAR PUPILS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

Abstract

Environmental education is defined as raising self-sacrificing people with an awareness ofall kinds of problems and solutions to create a more sustainable environment. Environmentalliteracy is essential in environmental education. The concept of environmental literacy meanshaving a good education in the field of the environment and a high level of knowledge aboutthe environment.This research is a descriptive study examining the environmental literacy levels andenvironmental pollution images of 7th grade pupils in primary education. The study wasconducted with 76 pupils in four classes of a public secondary school in the city of Ankara inthe 2018-2019 academic year. 35 (46.1%) female and 41 (53.9%) male pupils participated inthe study.The Environmental Literacy Scale, the Environmental Sensitivity Scale, the EnvironmentalBehaviour Scale, and the Cognitive Skills Interview Form developed by Sontay, Gökdere, andUsta (2015) were used in the study. In addition, the pupils were asked to draw environmentalpollution themed pictures in order to explore their images of environmental pollution. Thedrawing method was used to reveal the pupils’ perceptions about environmental pollution.Keywords: environmental literacy, environmental behaviour, environmental sensibility,environmental problems, environmental education, image of environmental pollution