The Investigation on Environmental Literacy of Vocational School Child Development Students

Abstract

This research aims to determine the environmental literacy levels of child development undergraduate students. Given that environmental awareness should be instilled to our children from a very young age, students of child development who will raise children and be role models for them should be environmentally literate individuals. Case study, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. Eight undergraduate students studying in the department of Child Development and enrolled in vocational elective course named Environmental Education in Early Childhood were participated in the research. The data were collected with the semi-structured interview developed by the researchers, the activity plans prepared for environmental education in pre-school education and the nature diaries of the students. When the students’ environmental literacy level is examined, the students lack cognitive knowledge, but students’ affective awareness of the environment increased, and at the behavioral level, most of them exhibited some environmentally friendly behaviors in their own lives. These findings show that educators, who have a great impact on children, should add various courses on environmental education to higher education programs and these courses should be practice-oriented than to be theoretical in order to to raise environmentally literate children.