Content uploaded by Seyed Mohammad Shobeiri
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Seyed Mohammad Shobeiri on Sep 16, 2020
Content may be subject to copyright.
A comparative study of environmental awareness
and environmental attitude among secondary school
students in Indian and Iran
1
(Ph.D) S. M. SHOBEIRI
2
A. Maleki (Ph.D.)
Abstract
In this study, the author investigates the degree of relationship between
environmental awareness and environmental attitude of secondary school
students in India and Iran. Nine hundred and ninety-one students were
selected through the stratified random sampling technique from 103
secondary schools of Mysore city (India) and Tehran city (Iran). Subjects
consisted of 476 boys and 515 girls. They were assessed using the
Environmental Awareness Ability Measure (EAAM) (Praveen Kumar
Jha, 1998) and Taj Environmental Attitude Scale (TEAS) developed by
Haseen Taj (2001). Results revealed that there are significant relationship
between environmental awareness and environmental attitude of students
in both countries
Key words: Environmental attitude, Environmental awareness
Introduction
Environmental problems had been considered as technical and economical problems;
while in the recent decades the educational and behavioural dimensions of
environmental problems have became one of the most important areas of environmental
sociology and environmental education. In other word, the recent paradigms consider
Environmental problems as a result of human behaviour (kalantari, 2007:67). So, only
through changing human behaviour can reduce environmental problems.
One of important factors affecting environmental behaviour is
people’s attitude towards environmental problems such as air and water
pollution, urban garbage and climate changes which in turn is subject to
1
Corresponding author name: Seyed Mohammad Shobeiri: sm_shobeiri@pnu.ac - /Department of Education, University of Payam-e-Noor, Tehran, Iran
2
ame: Amir Maleki: a_maleki@pnu.a /Department of Corresponding author n - Sociology, University of Payam-e-Noor, Tehran, Iran.
6/ Quarterly Journal of Education
environmental awareness. This is a reason that environmental education
has become one of the more effective solutions for environmental issues,
because the purpose of environmental education is to improve the quality
of environment by creating awareness among the people about
environment problems and conservation. In the other word, the objectives
of the environmental education are to generate awareness, knowledge,
attitude, skills, evaluation ability and participation to help social groups
and individuals (Bhaskar, 2003). Environmental education should create
environmental awareness among the people and enable the people to
know their responsibilities in the protection of their environment and to
conserve the natural resources. According to Annon (1970),
environmental education is the process of recognizing values and
clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to
understand and appreciate the interrelatedness of man, his culture and his
biophysical surroundings. It also entails practice in decision making and
self formulation of a code of behaviour about issues concerning
environment qualities.
According to Kindliter (1983) environmental education plays an
important role for the development of environment. According to Saxena
(1986), environmental education has relationship with man and his
activities. It is aimed at developing responsible action necessary for
preservation, conservation and improvement and its components.
(Bhaskaracharyulu, 2003) Environmental education and awareness
should bring in environmental concerns in all subject areas so that an
environmental bias permeates into all facets of one’s life and does not get
compartmentalized at one place. Environment is a common heritage and
its restoration either through preventive or a curative strategy is an
enormous task. Each individual must develop a stake and become its
protector. Environment is essentially partnership programmer in which
an individual plays a pivotal role. Life on earth depends upon the
availability of land, water, energy, climate, fuel, minerals, flora and
A comparative study of environment …/7
fauna. Man with the help of technology and his efforts transform these
physical resources into goods and services for the exploding population
to raise the standard of living. This technology and the social
organization have created what is called “World Problematique” a crisis
that threatens life on earth. Environmental education should be inter-
disciplinary, drawing from biological, sociological, anthropological,
economic, and political and human resources. Environmental education
is a new emerging field of study, instruction and research. (Bhaskar,
2003) Environmental crisis are ultimately human problems. They are,
perhaps, less as a result of shortcomings in scientific knowledge than in
human environmental awareness and attitude. Resolution of the current
ecological dilemma will necessitate not only technological changes and
improved scientific knowledge, but also changes in the environmental
awareness and environmental attitude of people who utilize and are
affected by the altered technologies and advanced.
On the occasion of the First International Conference on
Environmental Education held in New Delhi in 1980, the late Mrs. India
Gandhi observed that the main purpose of environmental education is to
help arouse social consciousness and make the community aware of the
fact that the good of the individual and that of the community are both
harmed by ecological disruptions
A few researchers have tried to examine the relationships which
they felt existed between environmental awareness and environmental
attitude as well (Shabina, 1999; Dinakara, 2000).
Research studies in the Iran context, which bring out clearly the
relationship between environmental awareness and environmental
attitude of students, are not available and hence the authors have made a
modest attempt to take up the present study. In the research, Iran and
India have been chosen for doing a comparative study, because both of
them are in the Asian Developing Countries Group and environmental
issues are also increasingly taking more attention of policy into account
8/ Quarterly Journal of Education
in the recent decades. By comparing environmental awareness among
secondary school students in Iran and India and its effect on their
attitudes, not only we can evaluate comparatively content of
environmental education in these societies, but also we will test the
hypothesis that “ the more increase in environmental awareness, the more
increase in environmental attitude positively “.
Review of the literature
As we said, the purposes of environmental education have been
summarized by UNESCO as: a. to foster a clear awareness of and
concern about economic, political, social and ecological independence in
rural and urban areas; b. to provide every person with opportunities to
acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, skills and commitment to
protect and improve the environment; c. to create new patterns of
behavior of individuals, groups, and society as a whole towards the
environment…”(Hale, 1993). Researchers have studied education as a
factor which underpins environmental awareness and attitudes.
Ostman and Parker (Ostman and Parker, 1987) have studied the
effect of education on environmental behaviors. They have conducted a
total of 336 completed interviews and generalized the findings to the
Ithaca, New York, population. They found a significant relationship
between education and environmental knowledge, environmental
awareness and attitudes.
Sudarmadi (Sudarmadi et al., 2001) carried out a research by using
a quantitative study in 1998 to examine differences in perception,
knowledge, awareness and attitude with regard to environmental
problems between educated and community groups in Jakarta. The data
obtained from a total of 537 males between 30-49 years old and the
results show that respondents in educated groups had better perception,
more detailed knowledge, were more aware, and had better attitudes in
flavor of regional and global environmental problems than those in the
community groups.
A comparative study of environment …/9
Iversen (Iversen 2002) reported that level of education seems to be
important for environmental attitudes. In fact, his study indicates that
respondents with a university degree had a more positive attitude towards
environmental concern
El-Ghannam (El-Ghannam, 2003) in her work revealed that
education mildly correlated with only the limits to growth set in the
negative direction, in contradiction with what one would expect based on
the previous research suggesting that higher level of education should
positively associate with environmental concern and attitudes. She says
that the explanation of this finding may be that youth across all levels of
education are very close in terms of their attitudes towards environmental
issues. The youth do not see that economic growth as determinant to the
environment. Also, they do not feel about the problems of population it
does not exit. Khan and Matsusaka (Khan and Matsusaka, 1997) found a
positive relationship between education and environmental initiatives. In
other words, their study showed less educated workers in general
opposed environmental initiatives.
Ellis and Thomson (Ellis and Thompson, 1997) in their study
showed that the relationship between education and environmental
attitudes and concern is positive but very weak(.05).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present study is a correlation research examining relationship
between environmental awareness of the secondary school students and
their environmental attitude based on a comparative perspective in
Mysore (India) and Tehran (Iran). This section explains the hypothesis,
sample, instrument, procedure, scoring and statistical techniques used for
the study.
HYPOTHESES
The Following hypothesis was formulated for testing in the research:
10/ Quarterly Journal of Education
Hypothe
sis
There is a significant relationship between environmental
awareness of the secondary school students and their environmental
attitude in Mysore and Tehran.
SAMPLE
A sample of 991 (476 boys and 515 girls) secondary school students was selected from
different schools in India (Mysore city) and Iran (Tehran city), the students were
selected both form Government and private schools. Stratified Random Sampling
Technique was used to select the sample.
INSTRUMENT The tools used in the present investigation were:
Environmental Awareness Ability Measure (EAAM)
The environmental awareness of the subject was measured by using the EAAM
developed by Praveen Kumar Jha (1998), Mandal University, Madhipura. This tool
measures the extent and degree of awareness of students about environmental pollution
and its protection, as consisting of five components viz: (i) Causes of pollution, (ii)
Conservation of soil, forest and air, (iii) Energy conservation, (IV) Conservation of
human health and (v) Conservation of wild-life and animal husbandry. There are several
items in each component, thus constituting the total of 51 items on the scale. For Indian
students, the original English version and for Iranian students translated version in
Persian (by one of the author) was used. Initially, the Persian version was administered
as a pre-test to 50 boy and 50 girl Iranian students to find out the suitability of the
instruments. With a few minor revisions, the main study was continued based on the
suggestions given by the teachers on the pre-test. The test-retest reliability of the
inventory was noted to be 0.74 and external validity was found to be 0.83.
Taj Environmental Attitude Scale (TEAS)
The environmental attitude of the subject was measured by using the TEAS developed
by Haseen Taj (2001), Bangalore University. This tool measures environmental attitude
of students as consisting of six areas dealt within the scale are attitude towards: (i)
Population, (ii) Health and hygiene, (iii) Polluters, (iv) Wild life, (v) Forests and (vi)
Environmental concerns. There are several items in each area, thus constituting the total
of 61 items on the scale. For Indian students, the original English version and for
Iranian teachers translated version in Persian was used. Initially, the Persian version was
administered as a pre-test to 50 boys and 50 girls Iranian students to find out the
suitability of the instruments. With a few minor revisions, the main study was continued
based on the suggestion given by the students on the pre-test. The split-half reliability
has been found to be 0.79.
A comparative study of environment …/11
Procedure
In India, the Investigator personally visited all the selected schools and met the students
for explaining the purpose of study and instructed them as how to respond to the
questionnaire. Also, for students, whenever, they had doubt in understanding questions,
Investigator made those questions very clear to them. The same procedure was done in
Iran.
SCORING
Environmental Awareness Ability Measure (EAAM)
There are 51 items in EAAM. Each agreed item carries the value of 1 mark and each
disagree item of zero mark, but the negative item are scored inversely. Thus, on the total
scale the scores ranged between 0-51. The scale gives a composite score of environment
awareness ability of the subject.
Taj Environmental Attitude Scale (TEAS)
Each item alternative is assigned a weight age ranging from 4 (strongly agree) to 1
(strongly disagree) for favorable items. In case of unfavorable items the scoring is
reversed, i.e. from 1 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree). The attitude score of an
individual is the sum total of item scores on all the six areas, the range of scores is from
61 to 244 with the higher score indicating the more favorable attitude towards
environment and vice versa.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Using SPSS (windows version 10.0) statistical package, Two-way ANOVA was
employed to find out the relationship between the secondary school students in their
level of environmental awareness and environmental attitude in India and Iran.
RESULTS
The results of the Pearson Correlation Coefficient are presented in tables 1, 2, 3 and 4.
These tables presented relationship between the sub factors of environmental awareness
and environmental attitude of students in India and Iran.
The coefficients of correlation (r) between environmental awareness and
environmental attitude for students in India and Iran under study were tested for their
significance by computing the t-value. The obtained correlations were first corrected to
the nearest two decimal figures (r-correct) and the corresponding Fisher’s z functions
were found out followed by the estimation of t-values. The data and result obtained on
comparing the coefficients of correlation between environmental awareness and
environmental attitude for the different countries are presented in Table 4.
The obtained t-value is significant at 0.05 level (t = 6.82). It shows
that the degree of relationship between environmental awareness and
12/ Quarterly Journal of Education
environmental attitude is not the same for students in India and Iran. A
closer observation of the estimated values of ‘r’ shows that the
relationship between environmental awareness and environmental
attitude of Indian students is better than in case of Iranian students.
Table 1: Correlation matrix for sub factors of student’s
environmental awareness and environmental attitude for India
Students
Environmental
Awareness
Students
Environmental
Attitude
Causes
of
pollutio
n
Conservatio
n of soil,
forest, air
and etc.
Energy
conservatio
n
Conservatio
n of human
health
Conservatio
n of wild
life and
animal
husbandry
Total
Health and
hygiene
r
**
0.353
**
0.361
**
0.302
**
0.401
**
0.196
*
0.470
*
Si
g
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Wild life
r
**
0.338
**
0.369
**
0.347
**
0.376
**
0.184
*
0.460
*
Si
g
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Forests
r
**
0.147
**
0.177
**
0.246
**
0.238
0.033
*
0.243
*
Si
g
0.001
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.45
0.000
Polluters
r
**
0.503
**
0.529
**
0.471
**
0.484
**
2660.
*
0.641
*
Si
g
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Population
explosion
r
**
0.390
**
0.469
**
0.429
**
0.424
**
0.203
*
0.546
*
Si
g
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Environment
al concern
r
**
0.462
**
0.617
**
0.396
**
0.582
**
0.286
*
0.672
*
Si
g
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
A comparative study of environment …/13
Total
r
**
0.562
**
0.626
**
0.526
**
0.620
**
0.306
*
0.753
*
Si
g
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
The statistical result (Table 1) indicate that in India there is no
significant relationship between one sub factor of students environmental
awareness namely ‘Conservation of wild life and animal husbandry’ and
sub factor of students environmental attitude, i.e. ‘Forests’.
Except above stated sub factor, there is significant relationship
between all sub factors of students’ environmental awareness and all sub
factors of students’ environmental attitude.
Table 2: Correlation matrix for sub factors of student’s
environmental awareness and environmental attitude for Iran
Students
Environmental
Awareness
Students
Environmental
Attitude
Causes
of
pollution
Conservation
of soil,
forest, air
and etc.
Energy
conservation
Conservation
of human
health
Conservation
of wild life
and animal
husbandry
Total
Health and
hygiene
r
**
0.134
**
0.167
0.012
0.031
0.063
**
0.144
Sig
0.003
0.000
0.799
0.498
0.167
0.001
Wild life
r
0.057
0.074
0.006
-0.052
-0.046
0.030
Sig
0.209
0.102
0.897
0.248
0.310
0.512
Forests
r
0.022
**
0.123
-0.060
*
0.102
0.027
0.083
Sig
0.628
0.006
0.187
0.024
0.544
0.066
Polluters
r
*
0.104
**
0.145
-0.044
**
0.130
0.042
**
00.14
Sig
0.021
0.001
0.331
0.004
0.348
0.002
Population
explosion
r
**
0.164
**
0.138
*
0.106
**
0.122
*
0.113
**
0.199
Sig
0.000
0.002
0.019
0.007
0.012
0.000
Environmental
concern
r
**
0.233
**
0.243
**
0.123
**
0.289
**
0.148
**
0.343
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.006
0.000
0.001
0.000
Total
r
**
0.217
**
0.262
0.053
**
0.214
*
0.115
**
0.294
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.238
0.000
0.011
0.000
* Correlation is significant at 0.05 levels (2-tailed); ** Correlation is
14/ Quarterly Journal of Education
significant at 0.01 levels (2-tailed)
** Correlation is significant at 0.01 levels (2-tailed)
Results from table 2 reveal that in Iran there are no significant
relationships among three sub factors of students environmental
awareness namely ‘Energy conservation’, ‘Conservation of human
health’ and ‘Conservation of wild life and animal husbandry’ and
students environmental attitude sub factor i.e. ‘Health and hygiene’.
There is no significant relationship between all sub factors of
students’ environmental awareness and one sub factor environmental
attitude, i.e. ‘Wild life’.There is no significant relationship between three
sub factors of students environmental awareness namely ‘Causes of
pollution’, ‘Energy conservation’ and ‘Conservation of wild life and
animal husbandry’ and student’s environmental attitude sub factor i.e.
‘Forests’.There is no significant relationship between two sub factors of
students’ environmental awareness namely, ‘Energy conservation’ and
‘Conservation of wild life and animal husbandry’ and sub factor of
environmental attitude i.e. ‘Polluters’.
Table 3: Correlation matrix for sub factors of student’s
environmental awareness and environmental attitude for India,
Iran (Overall)
Students
Environmental
Awareness
Students
Environmental Attitude
Causes
of
pollution
Conservation
of soil,
forest, air
and etc.
Energy
conservation
Conservation
of human
health
Conservation
of wild life
and animal
husbandry
Total
Health and
hygiene
r
**
0.308
**
0.342
**
0.256
**
0.348
**
0.162
**
0.421
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Wild life
r
**
0.208
**
0.236
**
110.2
**
0.187
**
0.087
**
0.275
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Forests
r
**
0.134
**
0.192
**
0.178
**
0.247
0.045
**
0.240
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.161
0.000
Polluters
r
**
0.306
**
0.396
**
0.323
**
0.355
**
0.190
**
0.476
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
A comparative study of environment …/15
Population
explosion
r
**
0.307
**
0.348
**
0.323
**
0.321
**
0.171
**
0.424
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Environmental
concern
r
**
0.389
**
0.489
**
0.321
**
0.495
**
0.238
**
0.570
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Total
r
**
.4530
**
0.515
**
0.407
**
0.505
**
0.246
**
0.624
Sig
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Result from table 3 (Overall) highlighted that there is no significant
relationship between one sub factor of students environmental awareness
namely, ‘Conservation of wild life and animal husbandry’ and sub factor
of students environmental attitude, i.e. ‘Forests’.
Except above stated sub factor, there are significant relationships between all sub
factors of students’ environmental awareness and all sub factors of students’
environmental attitude in both the countries.
Table 4: Comparison of the coefficients of correlation between
environmental awareness and environmental attitude of students in
India and Iran
Country
Statistical indices
t-values
N
r
r-correct
z
Students
India
500
0.624
0.62
0.73
6.82*
Iran
491
0.29
4
0.29
0.30
* Significant at 0.05 level
Table 4 indicates that there is relationship between environmental awareness and
environmental attitude of students in both the countries. It shows that the degree of
relationship between environmental awareness and environmental attitude is not the
same for students in India and Iran. A closer observation of the estimated values of ‘r’
shows that the relationship is more significant in the case of Indian students than in the
case of Iranian students.
In the overall there is significant relationship between sub factors of
students’ environmental awareness and students’ environmental attitude
sub factors in both the countries and therefore the formulated hypothesis
is rejected.
FINDINGS
Hypothesis 24
There is a relationship between environmental awareness and
environmental attitude of students in both the countries. It shows
that the degree of relationship between environmental awareness
16/ Quarterly Journal of Education
and environmental attitude is not the same for students in India and
Iran. A closer observation of the estimated values of ‘r’ shows that
the relationship is more marked in the case of Indian students than
in the case of Iranian students.
Reference
- Bhaskar A. Yerroju (2003). Environmental Education in India. New
Frontiers in Education, Vol. XXXIII, No. 3, p. 201.
- Bhaskaracharyulu, Y. (2003). Role to Teacher in environmental
education, Edutracks, Vol. 2, No. 5.
- Dinakara, S.A. (2000). Environmental awareness, environmental
attitude and teaching practices of elementary school teachers of Mysore
district in environmental related topics. M.A. Dissertation, Department of
Education, Mysore University.
- EL-GHANNAM, A. R. (2003) the extent of youth concern regarding environmental
- ELLIS, R. J. & THOMPSON, F.(1997) Culture and the environment in the Pacific
Northwest. The American political Science Review, 91, 885-867.
- HALE, M. (1993) Ecology in Education, Cambridge University Press.
- Haseen Taj (2001). Manual for Environmental Attitude Scale, Agra,
India, Nandini Enterprises.
- Issues in United Arab Emirates. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 19
- IVERESEN, H. & RUNDMO, T. (2002) Environmental concern and environmental
behavior among the Norwegian public. Journal of Risk Research, 5, 265-279.
- Kalantari, k. et al (2007) Investigating factor affecting Environmental
behavior of Urban of residents: A case study in Tehran city-Iran,
American Journal of environmental Sciences3 (2),2007,61-74
- KHAN, M. E. & MATSUSAKA, J. G. (1997) Demand for environmental goods:
Evidence from voting patterns on California initiatives. Journal of Law and Economics,
6
- OSTMAN, R. E. & PARKER, J. L. (1987) Impact of education, age, newspaper, and
television on environmental knowledge, concern, and behaviors. Journal of
Environmental Education, 19, 3-9.
- Praveen Kumar Jha (1998). Manual for environment awareness ability
measure, Agra, India: National Psychological Corporation.
A comparative study of environment …/17
- SUDARMADI, S., SUZUKI, S., KAWADA, T., NETTI, H., SOEMANTRI, S. &
TUGASWATI, A. T. (2001) A survey of perception, knowledge, awareness, and
attitude in regard to environmental problems in a sample of two different social groups
in Jakarta, Indonesia. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 3, 169-183.
- Tripathi, M.P. (2000). A comparative study of environmental
awareness of students studying in central schools and other schools at
10+ level in Uttar Pradesh, National Journal of Education, Vol. VI(1), pp.
47-51.
- Wagner, E. (1997). Environmental attitudes in the elementary grades.
http://searcheric.org/ericdb/ED412075.htm.