Examining Pre-service Teachers’ Awareness of Global Climate Change Using a Mixed-method Approach

Global climate change is recognized as one of the most significant environmental problems of today, and training pre-service teachers who are aware of this issue is crucial for fostering environmental consciousness in society. Therefore, this study examined pre-service teachers’ awareness of global climate change and the factors influencing it. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study employed a correlational survey model in the quantitative phase and a phenomenological design in the qualitative phase. The research was conducted with 978 pre-service teachers studying in science, primary, and social studies education programs during the 2022–2023 academic year. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistical methods, while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers had generally high levels of awareness of global climate change. Awareness was very high regarding the effects on the natural and human environment and energy consumption, but lower in relation to global organizations and the causes of climate change. According to pre-service teachers, this situation is primarily associated with the inadequacy of education and the fact that the subject is not addressed as a core course. It was determined that the gender variable did not affect overall awareness, but there was a significant, albeit small, difference in favor of women in terms of the impact on the natural and human environment. No significant difference was found in overall awareness and sub-dimensions based on the university variable. Based on the department variable, although significant differences were found in overall awareness, global organizations, and energy consumption dimensions, these differences had a small effect; no significant difference was found in other dimensions.