The Effect of Healthy Environment Education on Primary School Students' Attitudes Towards Environment: A Randomized Controlled Experimental Study

It is important to explain environmental literacy to every age group and segment of society and to raise awareness. Environmental education provided to younger age groups in particular teaches children to live in harmony with nature and not to become disconnected from it. Educational interventions in younger age groups can lead to them growing up with an awareness that, when they reach adulthood, enables them to behave consciously towards both their own lives and their environment. This is, in a sense, an important investment in the future. For this reason, the aim is to investigate the effect of Environmental Education on the Environmental Attitudes of Primary School Students and to examine the impact of the environmental education program titled "I Love and Protect My Environment" on the environmental attitudes and awareness levels of third-grade primary school students. The study predicts that the experimental group students will achieve a significant increase in their environmental attitudes and awareness scores compared to the control group. Furthermore, this effect is expected to be sustainable in follow-up measurements. The research results are expected to emphasize the importance of environmental education at the elementary school level and contribute to its integration into educational curricula.The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of Healthy Environment Education on the environmental attitudes of elementary school students. This study was designed as a three-month follow-up randomized controlled experimental design with pre-test and post-test. The population of the study consists of third-grade students attending Atatürk Elementary School in the central district of Kütahya province. The sample size was calculated using the G*Power 3.1 program based on a 95% confidence level (α = .05), 80% test power (1-β = .80), and a medium effect size (Cohen's d = 0.5). According to these parameters, at least 57 participants are required for each group. In this regard, taking into account participant loss, 5% of participants will be added to each group, and 60 participants will be included in each group to increase the reliability of the analyses. The Introductory Information Form, Primary School Environmental Attitude Scale, and Primary School Environmental Awareness Scale developed by the researchers will be used as data collection tools. Data will be collected in the form of pre-tests, post-tests, and one- and three-month follow-up measurements. Descriptive statistical methods such as percentage, mean, mode, median, etc. will be used in statistical analyses. Depending on whether the study data are normally distributed, the Shapiro-Wilk or Kolmogorov-Smirnov test will be used to examine the sample size. If the study data show a normal distribution, t-tests (between two groups) or one-way ANOVA (for more than one group) will be used for group comparisons. If the data do not show a normal distribution, the Mann-Whitney U test or Kruskal-Wallis test will be used. Pearson or Spearman correlation analysis will be performed to determine the relationship between demographic factors and environmental attitudes. When it is necessary to examine the relationships between environmental attitudes and demographic and other independent variables, analyses will be performed using multiple regression analysis. Within the scope of the research, a 6-week "I Protect My Environment" education program will be implemented for the experimental group, while no intervention will be made for the control group throughout the study. It is planned to implement the education program for the students in the control group after the completion of the study.