Problem-Oriented Environmental Understanding of Secondary School Students: A Mixed Method Research

This study investigates the perceptions, attitudes, and visual images of secondary school students towards the environment and environmental problems. The participants of the research consist of 150 students enrolled in a public secondary school in Ankara in the 2023-2024 academic year. In the study, a convergent parallel mixed method using qualitative and quantitative research methods was used to determine students' perceptions through data triangulation. Quantitative data were obtained using the "Attitude Scale Towards Environmental Issues", while qualitative data were obtained using open-ended questions, an environment word association test (WAT), and student drawings. Students first filled in the Attitude Scale towards Environmental Issues. Then, they answered the open-ended question about "environment", did the WAT, and supported their answers with drawings or visualizations. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 28.0, and qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. According to the findings, significant differences were found in students' attitudes towards environmental problems according to gender, class level, participation in environmental activities, and taking environmental courses. When the answers given by the students to the open-ended question were analyzed, the answers given to the open-ended question about the concept of "environment" were collected in 3 categories: Environmental elements, environment, and environmental problems. Students explained the idea of environment mostly with the concept of living things (n=128). Their answers to the WAT were collected in 4 categories: Environmental elements, environment, environmental problems, and sustainability. While the students associated the concept of environment with the words human (n=102) and home (n=98) the most, they associated it with the idea of waste (n=37) the least. Their drawings related to the concept of "environment" were categorized under 3 categories: Environmental elements, environment, and environmental problems. In the students' drawings, the drawings in which living and non-living beings are drawn together (n=115) and natural environment elements (n=102) draw the most attention.