Trends of change in environmental knowledge and attitude of Malaysian students

Ebil Yusof, . and Hollenhorst Steve, . and Teressa Wang, . Trends of change in environmental knowledge and attitude of Malaysian students. pp. 104-115. ISSN 0121-8126

The study focused on measuring the trends of change in environmental knowledge (EK) and environmental attitude (EA) of the Malaysia Department of Wildlife and National Park's (DWNP) environmental education program (EEP). It was conducted between May 14 1998 and August 8 1998. The sample was comprised of 402 randomly selected students from 10 different schools with 200 randomly assigned to the experimental grouped and 202 to the control group. Both the experimental and control groups were exposed to the EEP. At the Environmental Education Center (EEC) the experimental group was receiving the pretest and post-test while the control group were given only the post-test. The instrument used in this study was a modification of the Children's Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge Scale (CHEAKS) developed by Leeming et al. (1995). T-test and ANCOVA were used to determine group mean differences. The school and agegrpgender variables interaction were highly significant in relation to knowledge change. The interaction effects by agegrpgender found the knowledge change of all age groups and both genders were significantly increased (F 17.44 p 0.0001). Although the change in knowledge for agegrpgender interaction revealed by the results were significant the trends in knowledge change varies. 13-15 year old female students and 16-17 year old male students had the highest change in knowledge when measured between the pretest and the posttest given at the EEC. The result also revealed that the change in environmental knowledge (EK) and environmental attitudes (EA) occurred from the effect of treatment and not from the influence of the pretest scores. However none of the independent variables were significantly change in term of EA. Therefore the investigator concluded that the EEP facilitated some change in environmental knowledge and attitudes. However the change in knowledge and attitude on environment was small. Several improvements in the EEP are needed to increase the amount of change in EK and EA at the center in the future.

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Abstract

The study focused on measuring the trends of change in environmental knowledge (EK) and environmental attitude (EA) of the Malaysia Department of Wildlife and National Park's (DWNP) environmental education program (EEP). It was conducted between May 14 1998 and August 8 1998. The sample was comprised of 402 randomly selected students from 10 different schools with 200 randomly assigned to the experimental grouped and 202 to the control group. Both the experimental and control groups were exposed to the EEP. At the Environmental Education Center (EEC) the experimental group was receiving the pretest and post-test while the control group were given only the post-test. The instrument used in this study was a modification of the Children's Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge Scale (CHEAKS) developed by Leeming et al. (1995). T-test and ANCOVA were used to determine group mean differences. The school and agegrpgender variables interaction were highly significant in relation to knowledge change. The interaction effects by agegrpgender found the knowledge change of all age groups and both genders were significantly increased (F 17.44 p 0.0001). Although the change in knowledge for agegrpgender interaction revealed by the results were significant the trends in knowledge change varies. 13-15 year old female students and 16-17 year old male students had the highest change in knowledge when measured between the pretest and the posttest given at the EEC. The result also revealed that the change in environmental knowledge (EK) and environmental attitudes (EA) occurred from the effect of treatment and not from the influence of the pretest scores. However none of the independent variables were significantly change in term of EA. Therefore the investigator concluded that the EEP facilitated some change in environmental knowledge and attitudes. However the change in knowledge and attitude on environment was small. Several improvements in the EEP are needed to increase the amount of change in EK and EA at the center in the future.

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Item Type:	Article
AGROVOC Term:	Environmental conditions
AGROVOC Term:	Education
AGROVOC Term:	Training programmes
AGROVOC Term:	Wildlife parks
AGROVOC Term:	Students
AGROVOC Term:	Attitudes
AGROVOC Term:	Gender
AGROVOC Term:	Public education
AGROVOC Term:	Social change
Depositing User:	Mr. AFANDI ABDUL MALEK
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2025 00:54
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/8477

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