The effect of environmental education on awareness, attitude and pro-environmental behavior in 2nd grade high school female students (Case study: District 4 of Ahvaz city)

Increasing environmental issues and crises in the world have highlighted the importance of discussions on environment and environmental issues.Since awareness-rising requires training and environmental training is the most fundamental way for environmental protection. The present study attempts to investigate the effect of environmental training on changing the students’ environmental attitude and environmental knowledge about environmental protection. The used methodology was quasi-experimental and the statistical population included all the 2nd-grade high school female students in District 4 of Ahvaz. The study sample consisted of 180 individuals who were selected based on random cluster sampling. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire and data analysis was performed using SPSS 21 software. Results obtained from comparison of three levels of attitude, behavior and knowledge in the experimental and control groups showed that there was no significant difference between averages points in the two groups before educational intervention. However a signification difference was observed in the students’ knowledge (P=0/021), attitude (P=0/042) and behavior (P<0/001) after educational intervention. The results show that theoretical and practical educations have a positive effect on attitude, knowledge and behavior of students towards environmental protection. Therefore, it seems that appropriate education of 2nd-geade high school students not only raises their awareness of environmental protection and efficient use of natural resources and the environment, but also paves the way for employing them as experts in the future to reduce environmental problems and crises.