The aim of this study is to assess the awareness of pre-service teachers who will provide climate change education in secondary schools about global climate change according to different variables. The study sample, which was obtained through a survey, consisted of 255 pre-service teachers enrolled in the departments of science teaching and social studies teaching at a university located in the Central Anatolia Region. In this study, the Global Climate Change Awareness Scale, comprising four sub-dimensions, was employed as a data collection instrument. At the conclusion of the study, it was established that the awareness of global climate change among pre-service teachers was of a moderate nature. Furthermore, it was determined that the global climate change awareness of pre-service teachers did not differ according to the departments they studied or their gender according to scale-wide. However, it was found that this awareness, according to scale-wide, did differ according to the variables of class level, membership to environmental organisations, participation in environmental activities and taking elective courses related to the environment. Additionally, the results of the analyses of the sub-dimensions of the scale according to the variables were included in the study. At the end of the study, it was suggested that the number of compulsory and elective courses related to the environment taken by pre-service teachers during their undergraduate education could be increased, they could be encouraged to take elective courses in the curriculum, their membership to environmental organisations could be supported and their participation in environmental activities could be ensured.

Global climate change, pre-service teachers, awareness