An assessment of the environmental knowledge of Standard Five and Seven pupils

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An assessment of the environmental knowledge o f Standard Five and Seven pupils

Salomé Schulze

D epartm ent o f Psychology o f Education University o f South Africa

PRETORIA Abstract

The general environmental knowledge o f 757 Standard Five an d 358 Standard Seven pupils was assessed by means o f a self-devised test. For this purpose a sam ple which consisted o f pupils from twelve schools was selected. The sam ple included children from diverse cultures in different geographical areas an d from both ‘departmental ’ an d private schools. By means o f an analysis o f variance it was ascertained that significant differences in knowledge exist among the subgroups in the sample. Pupils from different cultures, types o f schools and genders differ significantly in environmental knowledge. Although Standard Seven pupils know signi

fican tly more than Standard Five pupils, the achievement levels o f both groups were relatively poor. In conclusion som e recommendations aiming to improve this level o f knowledge are suggested.

1. In trod u ction

The environm ental problem s o f a country such as the RSA are not so much related to the environm ent itself as to poor decision m aking with regard to the environment. O n e o f the reasons for poor decision m aking is a lack o f basic environmental knowledge. Stuart (1984:142), for exam ple, sees ignorance as the greatest threat to the environment. This threat may be counteracted by environ

mental education (EE) with the aim o f producing environm entally literate citizens.

Environmental literacy should not, how ever, be seen as being synonym ous with environm ental k n o w led g e only. A ccording to Hurry (1982:64) environm ental literacy involves aw areness o f the total human environm ent; know ledge o f envi

ronmental problem s; acquired attitudes and values w hich lead to positive environ

mental behaviour; and participation in solving or preventing environm ental pro

blems.

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An assessment o f the environmental knowledge o f Standard Five and Seven pupils

Although environmental literacy thus involves more than environm ental know ledge, know ledge is an important aspect o f being environm entally literate, be

cause it also relates to other aspects o f environmental literacy, nam ely aw areness and attitude, and can be formulated as follows:

Although aw areness is not dependent upon the possession o f know ledge about the environment, it will be enhanced by such know ledge (Clacherty, 1992: 27).

Knowledge is seen as an aspect o f attitude form ation by some authors (Stapp e t a l., 1983: 12; Schreuder, 1990: 496).

Thus knowledge is seen as an im portant com ponent (apart from attitudes, skills and locus o f control), in determining environmental literacy and therefore responsible environmental behaviour (Ram sey & Hungerford, 1989:29; M onroe

& Kaplan, 1988:38). Not surprisingly, Dispoto found that up to 40 percent o f people’s environmental activity could be explained in term s o f their know ledge (Caduto, 1983: 14).

2 . Som e stu d ies assessin g en viron m en tal k now ledge

Studies assessing environmental know ledge o f pupils elsew here in the world often found that it w as disappointing. One such an assessm ent o f 12th-grade pupils w as done in the Dominican Republic (Roth & Perez, 1989:10-14). It was ascertained that the average perform ance o f the pupils in a know ledge test w as, in general, rather low with an average o f 51% correct response rate. On average boys did significantly better than girls. This finding w as consistent with some other studies (Berroa & Roth, 1990:24).

In a study by Brody and Koch (1989/90:25) in which 4th-, 8th-, and 1 lth-grade students’ know ledge and understanding o f marine science and natural resource issues w as determ ined, it w as also found that the level o f understanding o f basic principles and concepts w as disappointing. Likewise, the overall level o f ecologi

cal know ledge o f random ly selected Dominican Republic citizens betw een the ages o f 14 and 64 years w as low (Berroa & Roth, 1990:27).

N ot surprisingly Gigliotti states that environm ental education over the previous decades has produced citizens who are em otionally charged "but woefully lacking in basic ecological know ledge" (Gigliotti, 1990:9).

3. In fu sion o f en viron m en tal ed u cation into cu rricu la

Environmental know ledge o f pupils may be improved by m eans o f short courses such as those presented by the various EE-centres in the RSA. In this respect it

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S. Schulze w as found that a five day residential earth education program (called Sunship Earth) increased the ecological know ledge o f 5th- and 6th-grade classes in A ustralia (Keen, 1991:30, 31). H owever, this program did not result in any sig

nificant change in pupils’ attitudes. Another course, the HAT (Issues Investiga

tion and A ction Training) w as m ore successful. It prom oted not only specific know ledge but also the skills and beliefs critical to environm ental literacy at 7th- and 8th-grade level (Ram sey & Hungerford, 1989:30 & 32).

If the abovem entioned short courses w ere successful in positively influencing the environm ental know ledge and attitudes o f participants, infusion o f EE into the curricula o f primary and secondary schools may result in developing environ

mental literacy in pupils - provided that teachers them selves are environmentally literate. It is therefore praisew orthy that the D epartm ent o f Environm ent Affairs (1989:7) recom m ended that the objectives o f environmental education be inte

grated into the curricula o f primary and secondary schools. This recom m endation has also been m ade by several South A frican authors (Clacherty, 1992:29; Knott- Craig, 1980:26; Stuart, 1984:145; Viljoen, 1987:13; Viljoen, 1988:11). Loubser (1991), w ho accentuated the importance o f infusing EE into school curricula, consequently designed a didactic model for environmental education in the formal school system in the RSA.

Although environmental education is essentially an a p p ro a c h, the curriculum should also include a com ponent o f knowledge. It then seem s advisable to assess what pupils o f all ages and cultures already know and to use this as a basis for the developm ent o f the curriculum.

O f the many variables that influence learning ... the learner’s relevant back

ground knowledge and his or her existing internal conceptual framework are two o f the most important (Brody, 1990/91:26).

This principle o f going from the know n to the unknown is also stressed by Hurry (1982:52).

4. Aim

The purpose o f this study w as to address the following questions:

* W hat do Standard Five and Seven pupils o f different subgroups know about the environm ent?

* Do the subgroups differ significantly in environm ental know ledge?

The specified subgroups consisted of:

Standard Five and Standard Seven pupils,

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pupils from different geographical areas, diverse culture groups,

pupils from private and public schools, boys and girls,

pupils belonging to EE-clubs and those w ho do not belong to such clubs.

The rem ainder o f the article records the attem pt to answ er these questions.

5. M eth odology

For the purpose o f this study, a test containing 55 items on general environmental know ledge was developed. The items covered the natural as well as the man- m ade environment. In accord with the test o f Roth and Perez (1989:11) it con

centrated on the following concepts: natural resources, ecology, population, culture, pollution/erosion. These concepts w ere described in brochures obtained from the Departm ent o f Environment Affairs. The test items w ere presented as statem ents and children w ere requested to indicate if these statem ents w ere true, false or w hether they did not know.

O nce the items w ere selected, the test w as evaluated by tw o panels o f specialists - lecturers from universities (three) and environmental educators at environmental education centres (five). Subsequently some changes w ere m ade and questions added on the man-m ade environm ent, for exam ple the social and econom ic environment. Thereafter a pilot test w as done on tw o groups o f Standard Five pupils, namely an Afrikaans and an English speaking group. In total 22 pupils w ere involved in the pilot test. Only then w as permission obtained for using the test in different schools from diverse cultures.

6. S am p le and the a d m in isterin g o f the test

The study involved a sample o f tw elve schools which included nine primary schools (757 Standard Five pupils) and three secondary schools (358 Standard Seven pupils). The group o f Standard Five pupils included the following subgroups:

107 w hite, Afrikaans speaking pupils from an affluent suburb and 80 white, Afrikaans speaking pupils from a low socio-econom ic area, (N=187);

white, English speaking (N = l 36);

- Indian (N=58);

- black Sotho speaking (N = 9 1);

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- coloured (N=101);

white, A frikaans speaking from a rural area (N = l 20);

18 girls from a private girls’ school and 46 boys from a private bo y s’

school (N=64). These children w ere from diverse cultures.

Because o f practical considerations and time constraints it w as decided to include only three Standard Seven subgroups in the research. The subgroup presented the following:

- w hite, city suburb, Afrikaans speaking pupils (N=97);

- w hite, city suburb, English speaking pupils (N = l 76): and - white, Afrikaans speaking pupils in a rural area (N=85).

Pupils from the Standard Seven subgroups w ere com parable with regard to socio

economic background. In this regard they w ere also com parable to the white, primary school group.

In m ost cases the researcher adm inistered the test herself. H ow ever, in three instances a teacher w as selected by the principal to adm inister the test during school hours using Science or G uidance periods. W hen the test w as adm inistered in a black primary school, black Sotho speaking teachers translated the item s into Sotho for the children as they w ere com pleting them.

7. S tatistical a n alysis

Eventually the following statistical analysis w as done:

Item a n a ly s is - to assess the degree o f difficulty and the discrimination value o f each o f the items in order to determ ine which o f the item s w as un

suitable. Thereafter the results o f one item w ere disregarded. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient w as calculated. The reliability thus obtained is equal to the averages o f all possible bisection reliability coefficients. This reliability is also equal to the reliability obtained with the Kuder-Richardson formula 20. The final C ronbach A lpha reliability coefficient w as 0,85.

F requ en cies - to assess the average percentage obtained in the test for different groups and subgroups o f pupils.

A n a lysis o f varian ce to determ ine if significant differences in average per

formance exist amongst the different subgroups o f the sample.

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An assessment o f the environmental biowledge o f Standard Five and Seven pupils

8. R esu lts and d iscussion 8.1 Age

To ascertain w hether the environmental know ledge o f S ta n d a r d F ive and S ta n d a rd Seven pupils differ significantly, the average test scores o f all the white, Standard Five and all the white, Standard Seven pupils w ere calculated. The results are given in Table 1.

T a b le 1. A v erag e sco res o b tain ed by w h ite S ta n d a rd F ive a n d Seven p upils in d e p a rtm e n ta l schools

S ta n d ard N A verage

%

t-value d f P ro b ab ility

5 442 58

7 358 60 2,3150 798 p<0,05

It is clear from Table 1 that, as expected, the average score o f the w hite Standard Seven pupils is higher than that o f white Standard Five pupils. Although this difference is significant on the 5% level it is smaller than expected. It is also clear that the average scores o f both groups are rather low, nam ely 58% and 60%.

8.2 Geographical area

The average scores o f the A frikaans speaking Standard Five and Standard Seven pupils from urban areas were com pared with the average scores o f their peers from a ru ra l area. The objective w as to establish if significant differences exist in average environmental knowledge o f similar groups who reside in different geographical areas. The results appear in Table 2.

T a b le 2. A v erag e te st sco res o b ta in ed by w hite, A frik a a n s sp e a k in g S ta n d a rd Five an d Seven p upils o f d iffe re n t g eo g ra p h ic a l a r e a s S ta n d a rd G eographical

area

N A verage

%

t-value d f P ro b a b i

lity

Five Urban area 187 58

Rural area 120 57 0,4094 305 p>0,05

Seven Urban area 97 62

Rural area 85 63 0,5753 180 p>0,05

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W hen Table 2 is studied, it becom es clear that no significant difference in average test perform ance exists between same age A frikaans-speaking children in urban or in rural areas.

8.3 Language

To ascertain w hether white, city pupils from different language groups signi

ficantly differ in environmental know ledge, the average test scores o f the A frikaan s and the E nglish speaking Standard Five and Seven pupils were com pared. The results appear in Table 3.

T ab le 3. A v erag e te st sco res o b tain ed by w hite, S ta n d a rd F ive a n d Seven p upils o f d iffe re n t languages resid in g in th e u rb a n a re a s

S ta n d a rd L anguage N A verage

% t- value

d f P ro b a b i

lity

Five Afrikaans 187 58

English 136 57 ' 0,8382 321 p>0,05

Seven Afrikaans 97 62

English 176 57 2,4668 271 p<0,05

Table 3 indicates that in the Standard Five group the A frik aan s sp eak in g diild icn scored on average only one percent higher than the English speaking children.

This difference is not statistically significant. H ow ever, in the Standard Seven group the Afrikaans speaking children achieved an average o f four percent higher than the English speaking children. This difference is significant on the 5% level.

8.4 C ulture

By means o f F-tests the average scores obtained by the six Standard Five subgroups in the urban areas w ere com pared to see if significant differences exist.

These subgroups w ere as follows: white-A frikaans; w hiie-E nglish; black-Sotho;

Indian; coloured', and Private school (d iv e r se cu ltu res) groups. Table 4 indicates the result.

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T a b le 4. F -value o f a v e ra g e sco res o f six S ta n d a rd F ive u r b a n su b g ro u p s N A verage score of

each su b g ro u p %

F-value d f P ro b ab ility

101 38

91 40

58 46

64 56

136 57

187 58 68,30 5 p<0,001

It is clear from Table 4 that significant differences (on the 1% level) do exist between diverse culture subgroups. The following com parison throw s some light on some o f the differences that exist.

8.5 Private and public schools

The average test score o f the Standard Five pupils from an interracial private school w as calculated and com pared with the average scores o f pupils from primary schools o f the white, black, Indian and c o lo u r e d D ep a rtm en ts o f E ducation. All these w ere city schools. The results are as shown in Table 5.

T a b le 5. D ifferences in a v e ra g e sc o re s o b ta in ed by S ta n d a rd F ive p u p ils in a p riv a te school an d in d e p a rtm e n ta l schools o f d iffe re n t c u ltu re s (u rb a n a re a )

Su b g ro u p s D ifference in

averages %

P ro b ab ility

Private and white schools 2 (5 8 -5 6 ) p>0,05 Private and black schools 16(56-40) p<0,05 Private and Indian schools 10(56-46) p<0,05 Private and coloured schools 18 (56-38) p<0,05

W hen studying Table 5 it becom es clear that significant differences in average scores (on the 5% level) exist betw een the private school subgroup and the black, Indian and coloured school subgroups. The difference in averages betw een the private school subgroup and the black school children w as 16%; betw een the private school pupils and the Indian school pupils 10%; and betw een the private school children and the coloured school children 18%.

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8.6 G ender

The average scores o f h oys and g ir ls from Standards Five and Seven were com pared. The results are given in Table 6.

Table 6. Average scores obtained by Standard Five and Seven boys and girls

S ta n d a rd G e n d er N A verage

%

t-value d f P ro b a b ility

Five Boys 385 54

Girls 372 49 4,3865 755 p<0,001

Seven Boys 166 62

Girls 192 58 2,7394 356 p<0,05

It is clear from Table 6 that for both age groups the average scores o f boys are significantly higher than that o f the girls. The difference in average scores o f the two genders at primary school level w as 5% (significant on the 1% level). The difference in average scores for Standard Seven boys and girls w as 4%

(significant on the 5% level).

8.7 E E -clubs

To ascertain w hether the environmental know ledge o f pupils w ho belong to different EE-clubs (such as Boy Scouts, Pathfinders and Biology/Physical Science clubs) is significantly greater than the know ledge o f pupils w ho do not belong to such clubs, the average test scores o f these tw o groups w ere com pared. The results are given in Table 7.

Table 7. Average scores obtained by Standard Five and Seven pupils who are members of environmental education clubs and those who are not

S ta n d a rd M em bers N A verage

%

t-value d f P ro b ab ility

Five Yes 347 52

No 410 51 1,1374 755 p>0,05

Seven Yes 101 62

No 257 59 1,3971 356 p>0,05

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Surprisingly, the average test scores o f botli age groups o f pupils w ho belong to EE-clubs are only marginally higher than the average scores o f those w ho do not belong to these clubs. The differences in averages are, therefore, not significant.

9. C on clu sio n s and discussion

From the above results certain im portant conclusions may be made:

* In accordance with previous studies to assess environmental know ledge, this study found that the general environmental know ledge o f pupils is rather poor. The reason for this may be because, up to now , environm ental content has not been infused into al! the curricula o f primary and secondary schools in the RSA.

* Although there is a statistically significant difference in environm ental know ledge between Standard Five and Seven pupils for both Afrikaans and Eng

lish speaking children, this difference in know ledge is less than may be ex

pected. O nce again the reason for this may be because no system atic infusion o f appropriate environmental content for each cognitive phase, has been made.

* Afrikaans speaking children o f the same age but from different geographical areas do not differ significantly in general know ledge about the environment.

This means that children from urban areas are not inhibited by a m anm ade environment to obtain environmental knowledge.

* In this study it w as found that Afrikaans speaking Standard Seven pupils in the urban areas knew significantly more about the environm ent than their English speaking peers. A more intensive study o f the relationship between different variables and the environm ental know ledge o f English and Afri

kaans speaking pupils is needed to explain this significant difference.

* Diverse cultural groups in Standard Five may differ significantly in environ

mental know ledge. This is indicated by the significant difference in environ

mental know ledge among Standard Five pupils from mixed culture private schools and pupils o f the same age from black Sotho speaking, Indian and coloured Departm ents o f Education. In general w hite, Indian and private school pupils may be from more privileged environm ents with easier access to television program s about the environm ent as well as to m agazines and new spapers. This could in turn influence environm ental knowledge.

* Standard Five as well as Standard Seven boys know significantly more about the environment than girls o f the same age. Traditional sex roles which orient boys outdoors and tow ards the natural sciences, and girls in

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* A conclusion arrived at in this study w as that children w ho belong to EE- clubs do not know significantly more about the environm ent than children w ho do not belong to these clubs. M ore research is needed on the actual functioning o f the different kinds o f clubs and on their activities to explain this rather surprising conclusion.

10. R ecom m en d ation s

K n o w led g e o f the environment and its problem s is an aspect o f environmental literacy. The results obtained by this study suggest that pupils do not seem to have adequate basic know ledge about the environment. Therefore, in order to aid the developm ent o f environmental literacy in pupils, issues such as ecology, population, pollution, culture and natural resources should be addressed in the curriculum. H ow ever, it must be stressed that positive behaviour tow ards the en

vironment will not result from a mere increase in factual information about these concepts. On the other hand, constructive behaviour tow ards the environment will certainly not ensue w ithout the necessary know ledge about environmental problem s and their possible solutions.

When infusing factual information into the curriculum o f a ll subjects but more specifically o f subjects such as Biology, Science and G eography, pupils' back

ground know ledge should be taken into account so as to be able to m ove from the known to the unknown. In this regard it is recom m ended that the difference in general environm ental know ledge am ong diverse groups should be taken into ac

count.

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