A Study on Environmental Literacy Levels of Social Studies Teacher Candidates

Abstract

This study aims to determine the environmental literacy levels of Social Studies teacher candidates. In the study, an explanatory sequential design was used, which is one of the mixed research designs. The participants of the study are Social Studies teacher candidates who are studying at two state universities in Turkey during the 2020-2021 academic year. 152 teacher candidates participated in the quantitative part of the research, while 12 teacher candidates participated in the qualitative part of the research. The data was collected using the Environmental Literacy Survey prepared by Karatekin (2011) and also a semi-structured interview developed by the researcher. Percentage, frequency, independent groups T-test, Mann-Whitney-U test, one-factor variance analysis (ANOVA) and the Kruskal[1]Wallis test were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the teacher candidates were moderately environmentally literate, and their environmental literacy levels did not vary according to class and gender. Social Studies teacher candidates most often defined environmental literacy by providing information on the theme of heritage. In addition, teacher candidates mentioned they use resources such as articles, books, and magazines to improve their environmental literacy skills. In addition, teacher candidates mentioned they experienced a number of difficulties gaining their environmental literacy skills due to the impact of education, family and society. Considering the research results in general, it can be said that it would be useful to focus on environmental issues within educational and training activities.