How do learners in developed and developing countries

How do learners in developed and developing countries relate to environmental issues? Ricardo Trumper, Faculty of Science and Science Education, Haifa University, Israel

Introduction § Many environmental problems (and their solutions) are science-related. § Science education has a key role in preparing young people to cope and deal responsibly with the emerging environmental challenges. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 2

§ Students' emerging attitudes to science – including natural and environmental science – generate feelings that may influence lifelong attitudes and behaviors. Students' attitudes toward environmental issues have been evaluated by a number of authors: - There is not a conclusive relation between attitudes and gender. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 3

- Young children have more positive attitudes toward environmental issues than older students. - Environmental concern influences behavior indirectly. - Objective knowledge has been found to have significant relationships with environmental behavior. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 4

In this study we compared students' attitudes and interests towards environmental issues in developed and developing countries. The findings may help us understand the challenges facing science educators in the endeavor to develop students committed to environmental action. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 5

The theoretical perspectives are described by Schreiner et al. (2005) who assume that to be willing to meet the environmental challenges, a person must: Ø have hope and visions for the future; Ø have a general feeling that she or he can influence the future of the world and be motivated to action; Ø be interested and engaged in the issue; 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 6

The ROSE Project q ROSE is an international comparative research project meant to shed light on affective factors of importance for the learning of science and technology. q The ROSE survey was conducted in 2003 and 2004. q The study comprised 36, 728 students from 34 different countries, most of them 15 years old. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 7

q The 250 questionnaire items were merged into composite variables or clusters, each of which constituted one index. q Students gave their responses on fourpoint Likert scales with categories of 'Not interested'-'Very interested, ' 'Disagree'-'Agree, ' 'Not important-Very important, ' and 'Never-Often. ' 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 8

q Theoretical perspectives, exploratory factor analysis, and reliability analyses using Cronbach's alpha led to the structure of the current indexes: "What I want to learn about", "My future job", "Me and the environmental challenges", "My science classes", "My opinion about science and technology" , "My out -of-school experiences" and "Me as a scientist". 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 9

What I want to learn about How interested are you in learning about the following? E 3. The ozone layer and how it may be affected by humans. E 4. The greenhouse effect and how it may be changed by humans. E 5. What can be done to ensure clean air and safe drinking water. E 16. How to protect endangered species of animals. E 20. How energy can be saved or used in a more effective way. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 10

My future job How important are the following issues for your potential future occupation or job? B 4. Working in the area of environmental protection. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 11

Me and the environmental challenges To what extent do you agree with the following statements about problems with the environment? D 1. Threats to the environment are not my business. D 2. Environmental problems make the future of the world look bleak and hopeless. D 3. Environmental problems are exaggerated. D 5. I am willing to have environmental problems solved even if this means sacrificing many goods. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 12

Degree of development of the different countries We used the Human Development Report (HDR) (UNDP, 2003) published annually by the United Nations Development Program. In each HDR the countries are ranked according to the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is a composite of three basic components of human development: health (life expectancy), education (adult literacy and mean years of schooling), and standard of living (purchasing power, based on real GDP per capita adjusted for the local cost of living). 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 13

The Human Development Index of the countries analyzed, in 2003 Country HDI Norway (1) . 963 79. 4 37, 670 Japan (11) . 943 82. 0 27, 967 England (15) . 939 78. 4 27, 147 Israel (23) . 915 79. 7 20, 033 Czech Rep. (31) . 874 75. 6 16, 357 Poland (36) . 858 74. 3 11, 379 Malaysia (61) . 796 73. 2 9, 512 Turkey (94) . 750 68. 7 6, 772 Zimbabwe (145) . 505 36. 9 2, 443 Swaziland (147) . 498 32. 5 4, 726 Lesotho (149) . 497 36. 3 2, 561 16 September 2020 Life expectancy GDP Per capita ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 14

Findings 1. Are students' hopes and visions for the future of the environment related to their countries' degree of development? Two items were intended to tap into respondents' future images of the environment: - D 2: Environmental problems make the future of the world look bleak and hopeless, and - D 7: We can still find solutions to our environmental problems 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 15

D 2: Environmental problems make the future of the world look bleak and hopeless D 7: We can still find solutions to our environmental problems 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 16

On average students in all countries were concerned (D 2) and optimistic (D 7) in their approach to the future of the environment, but it seems that students in developing countries were more concerned and more hopeful. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 17

For these two items we found an inverse relationship with the HDI: the higher the level of development in a country, the lower students' agreement that the world looks "bleak and hopeless" due to the environmental problems, Pearson =. 674 (p <. 01), and the lower students' agreement that we can still find solutions to our environmental problems, Pearson =. 486 (p <. 01). 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 18

2. Is students' personal engagement in the environmental protection issue related to their countries' degree of development? 2 a. Some items have in common a lack of concern - environmental problems are overstated D 3: Environmental problems are exaggerated D 8: People worry too much about environmental problems Cronbach’s alpha coefficient from 0. 37 to 0. 62 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 19

Results for “environmental problems are overstated” 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 20

We found an inverse relationship with the HDI: the higher the level of development in a country, the less students agree that environmental problems are overstated. (Pearson =. 626, p <. 01) 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 21

2 b. Other items describe another aspect of lack of concern - solving environmental problems is somebody else's job D 1: Threats to the environment are not my business D 11: It is the responsibility of the rich countries to solve the environmental problems of the world D 13: Environmental problems should be left to the experts Cronbach’s alpha coefficient from 0. 47 to 0. 63 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 22

Results for “solving environmental problems is somebody else’s job” 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 23

We found a direct relationship with the HDI: the higher the level of development in a country, the more students agree that solving ”environmental problems is somebody else’s job”. (Pearson =. 368, p <. 05) 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 24

2 c. There are items which describe a tendency to become involved – personal involvement D 5: I am willing to have environmental problems solved even if this means sacrificing many goods D 6: I can personally influence what happens with the environment Cronbach’s alpha coefficient from 0. 43 to 0. 65 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 25

2 d. Other items describe a tendency to collective involvement D 7: We can still find solutions to our environmental problems D 10: People should care more about protection of the environment D 12: I think each of us can make a significant contribution to environmental protection Cronbach’s alpha coefficient from 0. 56 to 0. 79 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 26

Results for “involvement” 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 27

D 5 - “I am willing to have environmental problems solved even if this means sacrificing many goods”, represents the strongest personally responsible statement for the environment 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 28

We found an inverse relationship with the HDI: the higher the level of development in a country, students are less - prepared to sacrifice goods (Pearson =. 658, p <. 05) - personally involved (Pearson =. 444, p <. 01) collectively involved (Pearson =. 571, p <. 01) - 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 29

The conclusion we may draw from these four groups of items will be that: - Students generally recognized the severity of global environmental issues, believed they must become involved in them, and supported international action to address them. - Students in developed countries expected such efforts to generate solutions, but were determined that these should have minimal impact on their own future lifestyles. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 30

3. Is students' interest in learning about environmental challenges related to their countries' degree of development? 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 31

We found an inverse relationship with the HDI: the higher the level of development in a country, the lower the students' interest in learning environmental topics, (Pearson =. 866, p <. 01) 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 32

4. Is students' view of their future jobs as related to environmental issues related to their countries' degree of development? 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 33

We found an inverse relationship with the HDI: the higher the level of development in a country, the lower the importance its students ascribe to their future jobs dealing with environmental problems, (Pearson =. 829, p <. 01) 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 34

We explored the overall similarities between countries in all the variables considered in this study, by a hierarchical cluster analysis. Results are presented in a dendrogram. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 35

Following, we performed a MANOVA and ttests comparing high HDI countries from one side, and mid and low HDI countries from the other side. Students in medium and low developed countries are: - more concerned and optimistic about environmental problems; - more personally and collectively involved in environmental issues; - more interested in learning environmental topics and in seeing their future jobs dealing with environmental protection. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 36

Conclusions The findings show a very similar pattern of responses across the industrialized countries in contrast to that in the developing world. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 37

So, what should be the implications for environmental science education? We think it is important to develop environmental science education programs that are based on each country's own ecological, cultural, political, educational, and economic context. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 38

The main issue in developed countries is to enhance students' concern for an involvement in environmental problems, and to increase students' interest in learning environmental topics. Against that, environmental science education in developing countries may rely on the more positive attitudes shown by youngsters. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 39

Schreiner & Sjøberg (2005) have argued that one of the main goals of environmental science education for empowering students in developed countries to act responsibly with the environmental issue should be stimulating students' awareness of what future they would prefer, that is visualizing the alternatives and the aims one wants to work towards. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 40

Thakadu (1997) recommended that "indigenous knowledge should form the basis of environmental conservation education“ in developing countries, and that it should be a vital component in every subject matter. Van Damme (1999) highlighted the role of adults in enriching the curriculum and argued for a contextualizing of schools in communities. 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 41

She also argued for the need "to bridge gaps and provide space in schools for adults to interact with learners about indigenous environmental knowledge learnt at home“. Also of importance in the incorporation of indigenous knowledge into formal education is the inclusion of traditional methods of teaching and learning (oral transmission methods) and the use of local community resource persons (particularly the elders who are considered repositories of indigenous knowledge in communities) (Shava , 2005). 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 42

Concluding: In developed countries, where youngsters reject ideologies and role models, we may rely on students’ visions of their own future alternatives. Against that, in developing countries it may be possible to lean on “indigenous” or local knowledge transmitted mainly by ancestors.

Thank you very much for your attention. Shalom! 16 September 2020 ESERA 2009 CONFERENCE 44