Membership of environmental clubs impacts students' awareness and understanding of environmental problems, knowledge and connectedness to nature

Abstract

The study examined the impact of environmental clubs on secondary schools’ students with the aim of determining students’ awareness of environmental problems, knowledge and connectedness to nature. It is a cross-sectional survey. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used. Seven (7) public schools were randomly selected for this study. A total of 457 students of public schools who were both members (313) and non-members (144) of environmental conservation clubs were surveyed in Akure. Data were analyzed descriptively while the hypothesis was tested with independent- test and simple linear regression. Level of awareness of environmental problems among the students was higher with members of environmental conservation clubs having a higher level of awareness than non-members. It also revealed that the respondents’ knowledge about nature was low and were more knowledgeable on the latest method of biodiversity conservation (297 respondents), State bird of Nigeria (265 respondents), and what is biodiversity (255). Members of environmental conservation clubs also had higher knowledge about nature than non-members. The respondents’ connectedness to nature was very high, members of conservation clubs had higher levels of connectedness to nature than non-members. The study suggests that students’ membership of environmental clubs impacts positively on their awareness of environmental problems, knowledge and connectedness to nature. It is recommended that the role of environmental clubs is made more relevant within the curriculum so as to empower students’ with skills to promote more environmental awareness, knowledge and connectedness to nature.