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Environmental Education in the Age of Environmental Degradation: A Comparative Study of Elementary Level Students of Delhi and Dhaka

Received: 08 May 2017    Accepted: 24 May 2017    Published: 10 July 2017
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Abstract

Environmental education is considered to be a continuous and lifelong process that can be learnt through formal or informal ways. The basic assumption behind introducing environmental education as a part of the formal education system from the early 1970s has been to change human knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards the environment through formal education. Against this assumption, the introduction of environmental education at the elementary level studies has been considered to be the beginning of formal environmental education to deal with environmental challenges facing by today’s society. The present paper focuses on the effectiveness of environmental education provided at the elementary level studies in two of the fastest growing capital cities of South Asia: Delhi and Dhaka, which are currently facing tremendous challenges. A specially designed questionnaire has been used to collect data from both government and private elementary schools by applying a purposive sampling technique. The findings suggest that students’ environmental knowledge is not adequately translated into environmental attitude and behaviour. There is thus a need to re-assess the designing of the course curricula and selection of the study methods and materials used for environmental education for the elementary level students to make environmental education more effective for the younger generations.

DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20170604.12
Published in Education Journal (Volume 6, Issue 4, July 2017)
Page(s) 133-144
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Environmental Education, Knowledge, Attitude, Behaviour, Efficiency

References
[1] Bhatt, M S and Islam, A K M Nazrul (2008), “Linkage between Biodiversity and Cultural Diversity: An Exploratory Analysis”, in M S Bhatt, Shahid Ashraf and Asheref Illiyan (eds.), Problems and Prospects of Environmental Policy: Indian Perspective, Aakar Books, New Delhi, India.
[2] Chowdhury, M A Taiyeb (2014), “Nature of Environmental Education in Bangladesh: A School Level Assessment with Reference to the National Curriculum”, International Electronic Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 4, Issue 1, pp. 53-60.
[3] Erdogan, Mehmet (2015), “The Effect of Summer Environmental Education Program (SEEP) on Elementary School Students’ Environmental Literacy”, International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, Vol. 10, Issue 2, pp. 165-181.
[4] Erhabor, Norris I. and Don, Juliet U. (2016), “Impact of Environmental Education On the Knowledge and Attitude of Students Towards the Environment”, International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, Vol. 11, No. 12, pp. 5367-5375.
[5] Ernst, Julie and Theimer, Stefan (2011), “Evaluating the Effects of Environmental Education Programming on Connectedness to Nature”, Environmental Education Research, Vol. 17, No. 5, pp. 577-598.
[6] Farmer, J., Knapp, D, & Benton, G. (2007), “An Elementary School Environmental Education Field Trip: Long-Term Effects on Ecological and Environmental Knowledge and Attitude Development, Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 33-42.
[7] IUCNR-UNESCO (1970), “International Working Meeting on Environmental Education in the School Curriculum (Final Report)”, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, France.
[8] Jackson, E J; Pang M F; Brown, E; Cain, S; Dingle, C E and Bonebrake, T C, (2016), “Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours among Secondary Students in Hong Kong”, International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp.70-80.
[9] National Education Policy 2010. Ministry of Education, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
[10] National Environmental Policy 1992. Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
[11] The Fourth Five Year Plan of Bangladesh 1990-1995. Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
Author Information
  • MMAJ Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi, India

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    Afroz. (2017). Environmental Education in the Age of Environmental Degradation: A Comparative Study of Elementary Level Students of Delhi and Dhaka. Education Journal, 6(4), 133-144. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20170604.12

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    Afroz. Environmental Education in the Age of Environmental Degradation: A Comparative Study of Elementary Level Students of Delhi and Dhaka. Educ. J. 2017, 6(4), 133-144. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20170604.12

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    AMA Style

    Afroz. Environmental Education in the Age of Environmental Degradation: A Comparative Study of Elementary Level Students of Delhi and Dhaka. Educ J. 2017;6(4):133-144. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20170604.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20170604.12,
      author = {Afroz},
      title = {Environmental Education in the Age of Environmental Degradation: A Comparative Study of Elementary Level Students of Delhi and Dhaka},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {6},
      number = {4},
      pages = {133-144},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20170604.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20170604.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20170604.12},
      abstract = {Environmental education is considered to be a continuous and lifelong process that can be learnt through formal or informal ways. The basic assumption behind introducing environmental education as a part of the formal education system from the early 1970s has been to change human knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards the environment through formal education. Against this assumption, the introduction of environmental education at the elementary level studies has been considered to be the beginning of formal environmental education to deal with environmental challenges facing by today’s society. The present paper focuses on the effectiveness of environmental education provided at the elementary level studies in two of the fastest growing capital cities of South Asia: Delhi and Dhaka, which are currently facing tremendous challenges. A specially designed questionnaire has been used to collect data from both government and private elementary schools by applying a purposive sampling technique. The findings suggest that students’ environmental knowledge is not adequately translated into environmental attitude and behaviour. There is thus a need to re-assess the designing of the course curricula and selection of the study methods and materials used for environmental education for the elementary level students to make environmental education more effective for the younger generations.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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