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81: Investigation of Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Beliefs on Education for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Behaviors

Although in the 21st century give big importance to sustainabilty, The source of the problem related to sustainability is based on the past. This topic was examined in some organizations, such as Agenda 21, UNESCO world conference on education for sustainable development. Consequently, every departments of education should include this topic. One of them is science education which place great importance to education for sustainable development. Gaining awareness of sustainable behavior is beneficial to individuals’ reasoning, motivation and engagement in the teaching of subjects related to sustainable development as well. Because if educators aim to provide environmental awareness to students, teachers should demonstrate sustainable behaviors firstly. The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service science teachers’ beliefs on education for sustainable development and sustainable behaviors. Three research questions guided the study.
1) What are pre-service science teachers’ beliefs on education for sustainable development?
2) What are the level pre-service science teachers sustainable behaviors?
3) What is the relationship between pre-service science teachers’ sustainable behaviors and their beliefs on education for sustainable development?
As research design, causal comparative research was used. Sample of this study is pre-service science teachers attending to faculty of education in a mid-sized university in Turkey. Data were collected through two scales developed by Sagdic and Sahin (2015) and Guler and Afacan (2012): Education for sustainable development scale (ESDS) and sustainable behaviors scale (SBS), respectively. Data analysis process is ongoing in the research. Interpretation of the findings will be discussed in consideration of relevant literature. Data analysis is planned to perform with descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.

Author(s):

huseyin ates    
Ahi Evran University
Turkey

Kibar Sungur GÜL    
Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş University
Turkey