Students' attitudes towards the environment and marine litter in the context of a coastal water quality educational citizen science project

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2023

Authors

Araújo, JL (Author) FCUP; Carla Morais (Author) FCUP; João Paiva (Author) FCUP

Journal

The Journal is awaiting validation by the Administrative Services.

Title: AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Vol. 39

Pages: 522-535

ISSN: 0814-0626

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citations

Scopus - 4 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00Y-KB7

DOI: 10.1017/aee.2023.14

Abstract (EN): This research focus on the evaluation of the impact on students' attitudes towards the environment, fostered by their involvement in an educational citizen science project related to the monitoring of physicochemical properties and the detection of (micro)plastics in Portuguese coastal waters. We developed an attitude scale, comprising four dimensions (Collective, Personal, Recycling and Reuse and Microplastics), which was applied, as a pre-test and post-test, to 574 middle school students (aged 12-14): 442 in the experimental group and 132 in the control group. Initially, based on pre-test results, both groups revealed positive attitudes. In the experimental group, the post-test results revealed that significantly positive attitude changes were promoted in all dimensions, whereas, in the control group, this occurred only in the Personal dimension. The control group also exhibited significantly negative attitude changes in the collective dimension. Students' engagement in sustainability-related citizen science projects can enhance environmentally literate society.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 14