Effectiveness of environmental education courses on environmental knowledge, attitude and practice: students of University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences

The bulk of the existing environmental problems are rooted in the lack of awareness and cultural weakness in the relationship between human and nature, and it is, in fact, a kind of cultural problem. Since the institutionalization of environmental culture and education begins in childhood, the pre-school period can be one of the most important periods of educational and cultural investment in the context of the environment. The goal of the present study was to assess and evaluate the impact of educational courses on the attitudes, and environmental knowledge and skills of students who are getting a major in Growth and Training of pre-school children in the University of Social Welfare and RehabilitationSciences,who teach pre-school children to protect the environment.

To achieve the intended goal, 55 senior students of Growth and Training of pre-school children in the University of Social Welfare and RehabilitationSciences were selected by convenience sampling method.Three questionnaires were used to assess attitudes, knowledge, and skills about the environment and related issues. Data were ana lyzed using Paired-Sample T-Test in SPSS software. A 25% mathematical logic was used for categorizing final scores of
each scale.

Validity of the used tools was investigated by content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio and their reliability were assessed by Cronbach’s alpha (internal consistency) and intra-class correlation coefficient (reliability during the time). According to the results, all three tools had accepted validity and reliability.Cronbach’s alpha values of attitude, knowledge, and skills were 0.702, 0.881, and 0.951, respectively. ICC of the three variables was calculated 0.665, 0.721, and 0.734, respectively. The results revealed that holding an educational course caused changes
in the level of attitude (t=2.39, p=0.023, Eta2=15.2), increase in the knowledge level (t=13.31, p<0.001, Eta2=84.7) and increase in the skills of students (t=6.90, p<0.001, Eta2=59.8). According to descriptive results, it was revealed that before the intervention about 45.5% and after the intervention, 75.8% of subjects had positive attitudes towards the environment. It was also clear that before the intervention, 60.7% of the subjects had some and after the intervention 84.8% had high knowledge about the environment. It was also clear that before and after the intervention, 36.6% and 87.9% of the subjects, respectively,became highly skilled on environmental matters.

According to the results, holding an educational course had the most impact on the increasing of environmental knowledge, then environmental skills, and finally, changing attitudes. The results of this study showed that holding environmental education courses can improve the attitude, knowledge, and skill of students.