Exploring preservice science teachers' attitudes toward environmental technologies

Abstract

Understanding attitudes toward environmental technologies appears essential because of the need for profound societal changes associated with using new technologies to protect the environment. However, a lack of research investigating the attitudes of preservice science teachers toward environmental technologies exists in the current research literature. Therefore, this study aimed to examine preservice teachers' attitudes toward environmental technologies. A total of 196 students enrolled in a large Russian public university formed the participants of this research. Researchers used a scale for data collection. We administered the scale to the participants in the spring semester of the 2022 year. This scale included three sub-dimensions and 24 items. We analyzed pre-service teachers' attitudes in age, branch, and gender. The results showed that the developed scale consisted of three dimensions: positive, benefit, and negative. The results demonstrated that the participants in this research demonstrated moderate and low mean scores regarding the positive aspects of environmental technologies. The participants also demonstrated very positive attitudes regarding the benefits of environmental technologies. Regarding the negative aspects of environmental technologies, the participants had the lowest mean scores compared to the other items of the first two factors. The results also revealed some significant differences in participants’ age, branch, and gender. In conclusion, we discuss educational implications for promoting the environmental attitudes of preservice teachers about environmental technologies.