Effects of Educational Background on Students' Attitudes, Activity Levels, and Knowledge Concerning the Environment

Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish whether students in a variety of educational establishments differed in their attitudes toward nature and the environment and to discover more about their nature- and environment-related activities and knowledge. Major variations among students were found according to their gender and educational backgrounds. Female students tended to show more responsibility toward the environment than male students. Of the different educational groups studied, students of biology exhibited the most positive attitudes and the greatest levels of knowledge; they also participated in many nature-related activities. In contrast, there was some evidence that students of subjects related to technology and economics adopted a more negative attitude toward the environment and, on average, had fewer nature-related hobbies than students in general. Attitudes, the quantity of nature-related activities, and knowledge about environmentor nature-related issues correlated with one another. Although educational background seemed to affect attitudes, activity levels, and knowledge, there are without a doubt a number of other underlying factors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Páivi M. Tikka

Päivi M. Tikka is a researcher and Markku T. Kuitunen is an associate professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Science at the University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland. Salla M. Tynys is an editor at The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, Helsinki, Finland.