Analysis of Environmental Literacy Levels of Social Studies Pre-Service Teachers

Abstract

For a sustainable environment, raising future generations as environmentally literate individuals is vital, and this responsibility falls on the shoulders of teachers. Because the construction of future generations is the duty of teachers, to carry out this responsibility, teachers and pre-service teachers, from education faculties to the schools where they work, must first be environmentally literate individuals themselves. In this case, the study aims to examine the environmental literacy of social studies pre-service teachers in a versatile way. For this purpose, the descriptive survey model was used in the study, and the collected quantitative data were analyzed. In order to investigate the environmental literacy levels of pre-service teachers, a 4-dimensional scale developed by Kaplowitz and Levine (2005) and adapted by Teksöz, Şahin, and Ertepınar (2010) according to Turkish education and Turkish conditions was used in this study. Within the scope of the research, the relevant scale was applied to a total of 376 pre-service teachers studying in the Social Studies Teaching program of Erciyes University and Süleyman Demirel University in Turkey. According to the results, a significant difference was found between the pre-service teachers' environmental knowledge and environmental literacy and their beliefs on whether environmental education in Turkey raises environmentally literate individuals. Moreover, statistically, significant differences were found between the environmental literacy and gender of the pre-service teachers in favor of female pre-service teachers. In light of the findings, suggestions were presented to experts and other researchers.