Atousa Soleimani; Ahmad Nohegar
Abstract
Introduction: Place attachment is an emotional connection to a specific location or perspective where usually includes physical and social elements (Devine-Wright, 2013). From Hummon's point of view, the community attachment is defined as an emotional investment in one place (Buta et al., 2014). Today, ...
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Introduction: Place attachment is an emotional connection to a specific location or perspective where usually includes physical and social elements (Devine-Wright, 2013). From Hummon's point of view, the community attachment is defined as an emotional investment in one place (Buta et al., 2014). Today, environmental concepts deeply have social implications, and a large part of the people’s environmental beliefs and behaviors changes under the influence of cultural and social systems (Kalantari et al., 2016). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between community attachment and environmental behaviors considering the role of mediating attachment of the place among residents of Tajrish neighbourhood located in the district One of Tehran. Material and methods: The present research was a descriptive, analytical-correlational survey. A sample of 284 was selected from inhabitants of Tajrish neighbourhood based on random sampling method. The participants were asked to fill out the research questionnaire whose reliability and validity were confirmed. The obtained data were statistically analyzed using the correlation analysis and structural equation modeling in SPSS-21 and AMOS-21. Results and discussion: The results of standard coefficients obtained from structural equation modeling showed that community attachment can directly and positively predict place attachment (p < 0.01, β=0.65) and place attachment also can directly and positively predict pro-environmental civic participation (p < 0.01, β=0.48). Finally, the study findings revealed that community attachment affects pro-environmental civic participation both directly (p < 0.01, β=0.41) and indirectly, through the mediating role of place attachment, (p < 0.01, β=0.31). In order to assess the fitness of the model, in this research, fit indices from eight main indicators were utilized. In this study, the relative Chi-square, (CMIN/Df) was estimated at 1.375, indicating the acceptable condition of the model. The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) of 0.036 also demonstrated the validity of the model developed in this study. The GFI and AGFI indices, absolute fit indices, should be in the range of zero to one, and values greater than 0.9 for the GFI index and 0.85 for the AGFI index indicate the optimal fit of the model. In the model measured in the present study, the value of 0.990 for the GFI index and 0.965 for the AGFI index showed a highly favorable fit of the model. For the Increasing Fitting Index (IFI), the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), and the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), values greater than 0.9 represent the ideal fit of the model. IFI, TLI, and CFI were, respectively, 0.996, 0.990, and 0.996 in this study. The (Bentler-Bonett) Normed Fit Index (NFI) is based on the correlation between the present variables in the model in a way that the coefficients of correlation between them would lead to high values of the adaptive fit index. The acceptable value of this index should be greater than 0.9 which was obtained in the present study and is an indication of the confirmation of the research model. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that community attachment has a direct and significant effect on the place attachment and the environmental behavior. On the other hand, community attachment indirectly affects the creation of environmental behaviors in citizens through involving the sense of attachment to the .place; hence, place attachment is considered as an intermediary factor in creating environmentalist behaviors
Atousa Soleimani; Esmail Salehi
Volume 15, Issue 1 , April 2017, , Pages 1-14
Abstract
Introduction: Participatory teaching as a teaching method is a form of inter-personal relationship (Hsiung, 2012). There is an obvious gap in using the participatory teaching method for conveying environmental principles and monitoring them and examining studies of this teaching method would significantly ...
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Introduction: Participatory teaching as a teaching method is a form of inter-personal relationship (Hsiung, 2012). There is an obvious gap in using the participatory teaching method for conveying environmental principles and monitoring them and examining studies of this teaching method would significantly help environmental educators (Baker and Clark, 2010) and activists in selecting the most effective method for conveying the principles (Alton-Lee, 2012). Such training can be effective in developing interpersonal and mental skills and high-level critical thinking skills, bringing about more learning, efficient memorizing of information and classrooms enjoyment. This article aims to compare and monitor the effectiveness of inculcating urban environmental topics using the Jigsaw participatory and a traditional teaching method. The main questions outlined here are as follows: Which of aforementioned teaching methods is more effective in conveying urban environmental topics? How is the sustainability of environmental principles over time? Materials and methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test/post-test design among two groups (participatory and traditional teaching methods). The statistical population consisted of male grade-three elementary students in Ahwaz, Iran. A total of 62 students (32 in the participatory teaching group and 30 in the traditional teaching group) were enrolled as the sample using random cluster sampling. Identical groups were verified using the pre-test and reliability was verified using Cronbach's alpha (0.84). The teaching methods were performed for three consecutive weeks and post-test was performed after one week and one month. Independent and dependent t-tests and effect size were employed to analyze the data using SPSS.Results and discussion: The results of the independent t-test of pre-test in participatory and traditional groups showed that the level of awareness concerning the urban environment is equal among the students and no significant difference was observed between two groups. The mean scores of participatory and traditional teaching methods were 18.68 and 18.66 in the pre-test concerning urban environmental topics, respectively. The results of post-test after a week showed that the mean scores were 26.28 and 23.10 in the participatory and traditional groups, respectively. They were 25.65 and 21.93 after a month, respectively. The mean scores were greater in the participatory group than in the traditional group at the post-test stage after one week and one month. The results of effect size showed that the effect size of the Jigsaw participatory method was 1.870 over a one-week interval and 2.137 over a one-month interval. According to the results of the dependent t-test, the level of awareness had a significant difference before the intervention and one week after the training programme. One month after the training course, the level of awareness decreased from 26.28 to 25.65 in the participatory group, and from 23.10 to 21.93 in the traditional teaching method group. A significant difference was found compared with the test prior to the training course. These results showed that students taught through the Jigsaw participatory method learn better than those taught through the traditional teaching method.Conclusions: The results of analyses showed that the level of awareness about the urban environment was significantly greater in students taught by the Jigsaw participatory teaching method than those in the traditional teaching group. The results of monitoring the effectiveness also showed that the Jigsaw participatory teaching method was superior to the traditional method.
