Khatereh Feyzbakhsh Vaghef; Seyed Mohammad Shobeiri; Mohammad Rezvani
Volume 14, Issue 3 , October 2016, , Pages 13-26
Abstract
Introduction: Natural resources are basic resources that play a fundamental role in the economy of any country and are considered among the important tools for sustainable development. Excessive exploitation of resources introduces substantial quantities of waste into the environment. Studies show that ...
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Introduction: Natural resources are basic resources that play a fundamental role in the economy of any country and are considered among the important tools for sustainable development. Excessive exploitation of resources introduces substantial quantities of waste into the environment. Studies show that unmanaged waste disposal is the main cause of environmental problems. Any effective management programme for controlling waste includes reduced waste production, reuse, and recycling (the ‘3Rs’). In this relation, children have a constructive role to play through participating in such management programmes because they are responsible for protecting the Earth. Education is a vital element for increasing children’s participation in environmental protection. This applied research was conducted to determine the role played by non-formal education in increasing children’s awareness concerning less waste production, reuse, and waste recycling. Materials and methods: This was an applied research study in which the quasi-experimental research method was employed and it was carried out using a pre-test/post-test design involving control and experimental groups. The statistical population consisted of girls and boys in the sixth grade of two elementary schools, and a prepared questionnaire was employed as the tool for measuring the students’ information and awareness concerning the methods for producing less waste, reuse, and recycling before and after the educational programme. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by relevant experts and its reliability by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.8. The students were taught topics on resources available in the world, the scarcity of these resources, and the methods for less waste production, reuse, and recycling. The obtained data was analyzed for the independent groups using Levene’s test and T-test. Results and discussion: Results indicated that there is a significant difference in the girls’ mean awareness concerning less use and less waste production before and after the educational programme. Before the educational programme, the level of awareness in the pre-test group was 1.71 but, after training, it became 2.30 in the post-test group. For the boys, their level awareness in this regard also increased, from 2 in the pre-test group to 2.88 in the post-test group. Concerning reuse, the awareness level of the girls increased from 2.63 in the pre-test group to 3.59 in the post-test group and the awareness level of the boys also increased from 2.45 in the pre-test group to 3.45 in the post-test group. The results about waste recycling show that the awareness levels of the girls rose from 0.52 in the pre-test group to 0.79 in the post-test group and, with regard to the boys, results indicated that their awareness level in this regard in the pre-test group was 0.41 while, after the educational programme it became 0.82. Overall, awareness levels of the girls and boys concerning the subjects taught increased after the educational programme. However, the awareness level of the boys in this regard increased more compared to that of the girls. In addition, the awareness levels of all the students (girls and boys) concerning the subject of reuse, increased more compared to that of the other subjects, namely less use, less waste production and waste recycling. Conclusion: According to the results, the researchers suggest that geographical conditions in the various cities of Iran be considered in teaching the 3Rs to students, and information related to this management strategy be provided to students through showing films related to the subject and by using cartoons, posters, competitive games, and through teaching in the natural environment. In fact, these materials must be prepared as an amusement for the children in order to arouse their interest.
Mahdiye Rezaei; seyyed Mohammad Shobeiri; Mohammad reza Sarmadi; Maryam Larijani
Volume 14, Issue 3 , October 2016, , Pages 89-106
Abstract
Introduction: The growth of social networks has led to new applications in education including formal, informal and implicit (visual, auditory and written) training that has to be defined for these tools. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of using Instagram on promoting the environmental ...
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Introduction: The growth of social networks has led to new applications in education including formal, informal and implicit (visual, auditory and written) training that has to be defined for these tools. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of using Instagram on promoting the environmental literacy of students. Given that environmental literacy has broad dimensions and ranges, to limit the issue only the main aspects of environmental literacy that include knowledge, attitude and environmental behaviour have been studied in this research. The importance of this research is that it familiarizes policymakers in environmental education with the impact of Instagram as among the ICT-based social networks for environmental education and promotion of the environmental literacy of the students who form an influential stratum of society. It also can be the basis for similar investigations in future studies aimed at examining the effects of social networks and different media, and their results can be used to optimize the future planning of this filed. Materials and methods: In terms of its purpose, this research is practical while, in terms of the data collection method, it is quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and control groups. The study sample included 40 students from Payam e Noor University of Markazi Province selected by the covariance sampling method and randomly assigned into the study and control groups. At first, both groups took the pre-test. Afterwards, the necessary training based on the United Nations Environment Programme (2015) and the situation and culture of the country was provided in the form of video posts on the specially created Instagram page, along with the written descriptions in the period of 4 December h to 4 February 2015. After 3 months, in order to measure the effect of the environmental training sessions provided through Instagram, the students took the post-test. The data have been analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and SPSS software.Results and discussion: According to the results of the covariance analysis test and with respect to the fact that the significance level of the test in all the three variables of knowledge, attitude and environmental behaviour was 0.001 which is lower than 0.05, it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the three variables in the pre- and post-tests; it indicates the impact of environmental education with the help of Instagram on these three dimensions and on the promotion of the students' environmental literacy. The mean comparison of the pre- and posttest results has shown that the mean variable of the post-test compared to that of the pre-test was higher in all the three variables. Also, the results of the post hoc test have shown that the mean of the Instagram group was higher than the mean of the control group for all three variables. The effect of training through Instagram for the variables of knowledge, attitude and environmental behaviour of the study group were, respectively, 0.474, 0.660 and 0.391. Conclusion: Environmental education through Instagram has a positive and significant effect on all the three dimensions of students' environmental literacy. Respectively, about 4%, 66% and 40% of the variance of knowledge, attitude and environmental behaviour of the study group can be explained exclusively by applying the training method (environmental education via Instagram).
