Development and Psychometrics of the "Environmental Education Scale" in High School Students

Today, environmental health is very important and education is the most sustainable way to raise awareness. The aim of this study was to develop and psychometrics of the "Environmental Education Scale" in high school students. 

The present study is a methodology and is a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. In the qualitative section, the review of relevant scientific texts and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 experts of the Educational Research and Planning Organization. In the quantitative part, the content validity ratio of the developed was measured by Lawshe table and content validity index, based on Waltz & Bausell method and face validity by asking 10 experts. The construct validity was measured by exploratory factor analysis. Reliability was calculated by internal consistency method by calculating Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficient with 240 people and stability by retest method with 20 participants and 2 weeks interval. Data in the qualitative part were analyzed by content analysis method in Atlas.ti software and quantitative data in SPSS. 22. 

From the findings of the qualitative section, scale items were obtained. The content validity ratio was 0.80 and the content validity index was 0.90. The results of factor analysis showed 80 items in 5 dimensions of educational objectives, teaching methods, educational content, educational tools and facilities and evaluation methods. Reliability by internal consistency method by calculating Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficient between the dimensions of 0.92 to 0.96 and the total instrument was 0.98, the reliability by the retest method was 2 weeks between 0.93 to 0.97. 

"The "Environmental Education Scale" was developed with confirmed validity and reliability. Therefore, its use is recommended to measure environmental education.