INVESTIGATION OF THE BIOLOGY TEACHER CANDIDATES' ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY IN TERMS OF DIFFERENT VARIABLES

Yapılan bu çalışmada üniversiteye yeni başlayan biyoloji öğretmeni adaylarının çevre okuryazarlıklarının cinsiyet, yaş, aylık gelir, anne ve babanın eğitim durumu, yaşanılan yerleşim birimi ve çevreyle ilgili bilgileri edinmek için kullandıkları bilgi kaynakları açısından değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Çalışma Atatürk Üniversitesi Kazım Karabekir Eğitim Fakültesi Biyoloji Öğretmenliği Anabilim Dalı'na yeni başlayan birinci sınıf öğrencileri ile yürütülmüştür. Çalışmanın örneklemini 60 biyoloji öğretmeni adayı oluşturmaktadır. Çalışmada betimsel araştırma yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın verileri çevresel bilgi, çevreye yönelik tutum, çevresel davranış ve çevresel algı alt boyutlarından oluşan Çevre Okuryazarlığı Ölçeği kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Çalışma sonunda biyoloji öğretmenliği anabilim dalı'na yeni başlayan öğretmen adaylarının çevre okuryazarlıklarının orta düzeyde olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Öğretmen adaylarının çevre okuryazarlığının çevresel bilgi alt boyutunda adayların yaşlarına göre anlamlı bir farklılık olduğu belirlenmiştir (p<0.05). Adayların diğer demografik özelliklerinin çevre okuryazarlıklarına herhangi bir etkisinin olmadığı bulunmuştur (p>0.05).

Problem and Purpose: One of the problems that waits to be solved in the world is environmental problems whose effect is increasingly felt. The most important reason for environmental problems is the lack of environmental consciousness in socıety.. Constructing the environmental consciousness among the people is possible through an effective environmental education. The first aim of the environmental education is to make people environmentally literate. At this point, teachers who instruct enviromental education have an important role. Teachers giving environmental education should be environmentally literate at first. For this reason, the environmental education, which is given to teacher candidates, should improve their environmental literacy. When determining the quality of environmental education given to teacher candidates, it is important to analyse teacher candidates' environmental literacy and the effecting factors of environmental literacy. In this study, it is aimed to investigating the first year biology teacher candidates' environmental literacy in terms of gender, age, level of income, educational status of parents, living area and information sources to get environmental knowledge. Method: The study was conducted with first year biology teacher candidates at Kazım Karabekir Education Faculty of Atatürk University in Turkey. The sample of the study is 60 biology teacher candidates. The study has been fullfilled with the descriptional research method. The data were collected by Environmental Literacy Scale consisting of environmental knowledge, attitude toward environment, environmental behaviour and environmental perception. One way Anove and independent samples t-test was to use and to evaluate the data. Results: As a result, it was detected that the first year biology teacher candidates' environmental literacy was medium level. It was found that there is a statistical difference in environmental knowledge subscale of environmental literacy according the age of the teacher candidates (p<0.05). According to analyzed data, older teacher candidates are more knowledgeable about the environment and environmental problems than younger ones. Other demographical variables have no effect on teacher candidates' environmental literacy (p>0.05). Recommendations: The quality of environmental education implicated in any level of formal education should be raised to foster students' environmental literacy. Additionally, some courses about contemporary educational implications used in environmental education should be held for in-service teachers.