Abstract


EXAMINATION OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS' OPINIONS ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Environmental issues are the problems that harm the life of living things that arise when people destroy natural habitats of them. World resources continue to run out rapidly and environmental conditions that in the world continue to deteriorate at alarming speed. Today, it is important to educate people about dealing with problems which they meet and finding solutions to them. Environmental education is the process of teaching everything that needs to be known about the nature, resources and sustainability of our planet and recognizing potential environmental problems and learning how to solve them. Since 2018, "Early Childhood Environmental Education" course has been lectured in the pre-school education undergraduate program. The aim of the research is determining the views of preschool teachers about environmental education and environmental problems; examining the academic awareness and social sensitivity levels of preschool teachers in terms of the various variables. The descriptive survey model has been used in the study. The sample has been created by two hundred preschool teachers working in various provinces of Türkiye. Data has been collected using the scale whose name is “Environmental Issues and Environmental Education Survey”. The arithmetic mean, percentage and frequency calculation of the obtained data has been prepared by using the SPSS software. As a result of the analysis; it has been found that teachers who are members of non-governmental organizations have higher social sensitivity to environmental problems and it has been observed that teachers living in big cities have higher social sensitivity to environmental problems than teachers living in small cities. At the same time, it has been determined that the academic awareness of preschool teachers who receive environmental education is higher than others. Participants have stated that they have implemented environmental education from the pre-school education program on students or group research projects and field trips. The other important points mentioned in the study are: the overuse of natural sources both in Türkiye and the world as the most important environmental problem and society’s awareness of environment can be enhanced via TV and radio.



Keywords

Environmental education, preschool teachers, environmental problems.





References