Assessment of Awareness and Behaviour Among Secondary School Students on Climate Change
Abstract
The climate change issue has been recognised as a global problem and it has to be given serious attention. The human contribution is necessary, it can be done through spreading awareness that will lead to behavioural changes. This study aims to assess the awareness and behaviour of secondary students and their contribution towards preventing climate change. The study was conducted with Nature Lovers and Peer Counsellors Club members at SMK Bandar Bintulu. About 133 surveys using Likert-scale with rating 1 to 4 were collected and analysed on frequency and percentage by SPSS. Findings revealed that the respondents’ awareness of climate change occurs as they learn from the classroom and join the environmental related club. However, their awareness does not represent their behaviour in protecting climate change due to minimum exposure on the human contribution towards climate change. Therefore, this study, suggests a long-term campaign related to the effects of climate change on health, including proper education on rules and regulation implemented by authorities to cater for this situation.
Downloads
References
Ali, A. R., Endut, A., & Embong, R. (2017). Investigating the environmental awareness level of secondary school students: Effects of race, school type, and location. Journal of Science and Technology, 9: 30-36.
Allen, M., Wicks, R., & Schulte, S. (2013). Online environmental engagement among youth: Influence of parents, attitudes and demographics. Mass Communication & Society, 16: 661-686.
Altin, A., Tecer, S., Tecer, L., Altin, S., & Kahraman, B. F. (2014). Environmental awareness level of secondary school students: A case study in Balıkesir (Türkiye). Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 141: 1208-1214.
Andersson, E., & Öhman, J. (2017). Young people’s conversations about environmental and sustainability issues in social media. Environmental Education Research, 23: 465-485.
Bakar, H. A., Aziz, N. A., Narwawi, N. A. M., Latif, N. A., Ijas, N. M., & Sharaai, A. H. (2013). kajian perhubungan antara kesedaran alam sekitar dengan tingkah laku mesra alam sekitar dalam kalangan pelajar universiti; Kajian kes: pelajar tahun satu Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 53: 1689-1699.
Cordero, E. C., Centeno, D., & Todd, A. M. (2020). The role of climate change education on individual lifetime carbon emissions. PloS One, 15: 1-23.
Damanhuri, M. I. M., Ehambron, D., & Yusuf, M. (2016). Tahap kesedaran dan amalan pendidikan alam sekitar dalam kalangan pelajar Tingkatan 4 aliran sains di daearah Hulu Selangor. Geografi, 4: 28-35.
Halady, I., & Rao, P. (2010). Does awareness to climate change lead to behavioral change? International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 2: 6-22.
Harker-Schuch, I., & Bugge-Henriksen, C. (2013). Opinions and knowledge about climate change science in high school students. Ambio, 42: 755-66.
Izzah, A. H., & Wan Asrina, W. Y. (2020). Zero-waste campaign: Assessment on university student's behaviour, awareness, and impact on plastic products. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 5: 24-29.
Kuok Ho, D. T. (2018). Climate change in Malaysia: Trends, contributors, impacts, mitigation and adaptations. Science of The Total Environment, 650: 1858-1871.
Lekgeu, M., & Davis, N. (2017). Perceptions of climate change among Grade 11 learners in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa. Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, 33: 52-70.
Luthfia, A., & Alkhajar, E. (2018). Strengthening public awareness on climate change: Lesson learned from a youth social movement in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 200: 1-7.
Ojala, M. (2015). Climate change skepticism among adolescents. Journal of Youth Studies, 18: 1135-1153.
Ojala, M., & Lakew, Y. (2017). Young people and climate change communication. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, 1-30.
Pandve, H. T., Chawla, P. S., Fernandez, K., Singru, S. A., Khismatrao, D., & Pawar, S. (2011). Assessment of awareness regarding climate change in an urban community. Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 15: 109-112.
