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CHANGE AWARENESS AND ATTITUDE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
ABSTRACT
This
research was a descriptive survey aimed at determining the climate change
awareness and attitude of senior secondary school students in Umuahia education
zone of Abia State. To guide the study, six research questions and four
hypotheses were formulated and answered. Purposive sampling technique was used
to sample sixteen (16) schools out of the thirty-four (34) secondary schools
and six hundred and forty students out of two thousand and twelve students in
the zone. Two instruments titled “Climate Change Attitude Scale (CCAS) and
Awareness Scale for Climate Change (ASCC)” were used for data collection. The
data collected were analyzed using mean score and standard deviation to answer
the research questions while Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the
hypotheses. The major findings of the study were that senior secondary school
students in Umuahia education zone have low climate change awareness and
attitude, there is no significant different between the male and female
students mean score on climate change awareness and attitude, and that there is
a significant different between the urban and rural students mean score on the
climate change awareness and attitude. Based on the findings of the study,
relevant conclusions were drawn. The study recommended that in-service training
should be organized for senior secondary school teachers to exposure them on
need to promote climate change awareness and attitude of students, that
curriculum planners should infuse more climate change contents in relevant
senior secondary school and that concerned education authorities should ensure
that quality education activities are carried out in rural areas as it is
obtainable in urban areas. Finally, areas for further studies were suggested.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
of the Study
Climate is
the major factor controlling the global patterns of vegetation structure,
productivity, plant and animal species composition. Climate means the average
weather in a place over many years. While weather can change in just a few
hours, climate takes years to change. According to Small and Nicholis (2003),
climate is the average weather for a particular region over a long time. It
describes the total of all weather occurring over a long period of years in a
given place. This includes average weather conditions, regular weather season
(winter, spring, summer and fall) and special weather events (like tornadoes
and floods). These climate patterns play a fundamental role in shaping natural
ecosystems, and the human economic and cultures that depend on them.
Climate
change means average seasonal change over a long period of time Igwe (2003)
defined climate change as the variation in global or regional climates over
time. It reflects changes state of the atmosphere over time scales ranging from
decade to thousands of years. Climate change according to Nzewi (2009) refers
to the measurable increase in the average temperature of earth’s atmosphere,
oceans and landmasses. Ezeudu (2009) defined climate change as a long term
significant change in the average weather that a given region experience. Nwagu
& Nzewi (2009) explained that climate change is the significant change in
weather (wind, precipitation and temperature) over an extended period of time.
Udenyi (2010) stressed that climate change is simply a change in the climate
condition of the world and the change if found by the scientists and other
concerned agencies to be on the increase line. In the context of study, climate
change means thesignificant and measurable change of the global temperature
which is believed to be rather on the increase.
The earth’s
climate is dynamic and always changing through a natural cycle. However, what
the world is more worried about is that the changes that are occurring today
have been speeded up because of human activities (Okebukola & Akpan 2009).
Similarly, Uzochi (2009a) remarked that human have been changing their
environment in very significant ways ever since they learnt how to hunt with
weapons, domesticate animals and farm crops, in addition to human modernized
transportation and industrial system, which facilitate easy movement and
production.
The impact
of these human activities to the climate change comes as a result of excessive
emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. According to Sjoberg
(2002), greenhouse gases mean the gases that contribute to the greenhouse
effect by absorbing infrared radiation. The gases include carbon dioxide,
methane, chloroflorocarbon, water vapour, and nitrous oxide. Igwe (2003)
explained that a greenhouse gas is a gas in the atmosphere that absorbs and
emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the
fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect is the rise in
temperature that the earth experience because certain gases in the atmosphere
like carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour, nitrous oxide and chloroflorocarbon
trap energy from the sun and retain greater part of the trapped energy which
caused the warming and changing of the global climate experienced in the world
today.
Furthermore,
the concentration of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused ozone layer
depletion. The ozone layer forms a thin shield high up in the sky and is
located in the stratosphere. It protects life on earth from the sun’s ultra
violent rays. In the 1980s, scientists began finding clues that the ozone layer
was going away or being depleted. This ozone depletion allows more ultra
violent radiation to reach the earth’s surface and it increase the rate at
which the global climate changes.
The increase
rate of climate change has severe consequences associated with it such as
desertification, drought, temperature rise, low agriculture yield, drying up of
water bodies, flooding among others (Oruonye, 2011). Similarly, Igwebuike,
Odoh, Ezeugwu, Okparaku and Opkaraku (2009) enumerated the effects of climate
change to include melting of the polar ice which could lead to rise in sea
level. The rise in sea level could cause flood disaster (which can wash away
farmland and crops, in addition to rendering the affected people homeless).
Ekezie (2010) stated that the rise in temperature as a result of climate change
could lead to drought, desertification, declining water table, lost of some
plant and animal species, low crop yield and outbreak of climate related diseases
like malaria and meningitis. These consequences of climate change according
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) could persist for longer
time as a result of human continuous emission of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere. In view of the above, Omotosho (2007), Ishaya & Obaja (2008),
Anyadike (2009), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2010) argued
that human continuous perpetuation of acts that caused the excessive emission
of greenhouse gases such as bush burning, indiscriminate cutting down of trees
(deforestation), constant burning of fossil fuel among others, depends to the
extent to which they are aware that their activities contribute to climate
change.
Oragwam
(2004) described awareness as a state of consciousness and purpose. Chinedu
(2008) viewed awareness as the condition of being aware and able to understand
what is happening around one. Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to
feel or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. Awareness means
having idea of the existence of something. In relation with the above views,
Wikipedia (2009) equates awareness with knowledge of, understanding of,
appreciation of, recognition of, attention to, perception of, conscious of,
acquaintance with, enlightenment with, mindfulness of, cognizance of,
something. Belloti (2002) explained that awareness involves knowing who is
talking with whom; it provides a view of one another in the daily work
environment. In the context of this study, though in relation to the above
views, awareness implies understanding and knowledge of the activities and
events (like climate change) going on around one’s environment. This knowledge
and understanding to a large extent influenced one’s attitude towards such
event (s) in one’s environment.
Attitude,
according to Abini (2006), is an acquisitioned tendency. Abini explained
further that pupil’s form attitude through either like or dislike, favourable
or unfavourable. Williams (2000) defined attitude as readiness to act in a
certain way expressed by a person’s words, gestures or facial expression. This
contention is upheld because one’s action is buttressed by one’s facial
outlook, the way one behaves and presents his ideas about the subject matter.
Good (2001) on the other hand defined attitude as a state of mental and
emotional readiness to response previously conditioned or associated stimuli.
For Kent (2002), attitude is a mental and natural state of readiness organized
through experiences, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the
individual’s responses to all objects and situation with which it is related.
The above definition s presents attitude to mean the way an individual thinks
or acts towards a given subject or issue. Therefore, climate change attitude
means the way of thinking and acting by individual towards the issue of global
climate change. It is the feelings and concerns an individual could have
regarding climate change.
In relation
to the above discussions, attempt has been made to increase students’ awareness
and attitude towards climate change in secondary schools. For example, climate
and general environmental related contents like our environment, physical
environment, sanitation
pollution,
natural and man made environmental hazards, deforestation, population, effects
of industrial concentration, composition of atmospheric gases, weather and
climate, classification of climate, major climate types of the world, were
infused in most secondary school subjects like Geography, Chemistry, Physics,
Biology, Agriculture, and Social Studies. These contents and subjects are
veritable means of promoting climate change awareness and attitude of secondary
school students in Nigeria. With respect to the above, Ishaya & Obaja
(2008) noted secondary school teachers have been inculcating climate change
contents infused into their respective subjects to the students with the
intention of increasing their knowledge of climate change as well as
influencing their attitude positively towards solving the problems of climate change.
Againde (2006) added that schools through classroom instructions are making
effort to create awareness on major environmental problems like climate change.
Similarly, Chinedu (2008) and Ofoebe (2009) shared the view that the curriculum
contents of most secondary school subjects could be effectively used to promote
awareness of environmental problems as well as positive attitude towards
solving the environmental problems.
In spite of
the efforts, through school instructions to promote awareness and attitude
towards environmental problems particularly climate change, it appears that the
programme is not yielding the desired result. This is because, people
(including those who passed through the instructional programme in school) seem
to have continued perpetuating actions such as bush burning, deforestation,
burning of fossil fuel like petrol, coal, and crude oil which contribute to
climate change. It is worthy of note that as these human actions that
contribute to climate change continue, so shall the consequences of climate
change continue to face human beings on earth. Thus, there is need to determine
the extent to which instructional delivery in schools through infusion strategy
has increase the awareness and attitude of students towards climate change.
In
determining students’ level of awareness and attitude towards climate change,
considerations need to be taken on the influence of gender and location on
students’ climate change awareness and attitude. According to Lee (2001) gender
is an ascribed attribute that differentiates feminine from masculine socially.
Gender is seen as the categorization in the world of matter into sex. According
to Kalusi (2000), gender is a cultural construction that assigns roles,
attitude and values considered appropriate for each sex. Ekeh (2000) noted that
gender implies the character of being male or female, man or women, boy or
girl. Robert (2007) defined gender as a social construct which is not
biologically determined but a concept equivalent to race or class. Offorma
(2004) viewed gender as a learned socially constructed condition ascribed to
male and female. Offorma noted further that gender is enforced through cultural
practices as gender identity is the outcome of cultural learning thus, the
expectations from male and female are depended on their cultural millieous.
These
expectations could influence the way individual perceived environmental
problems like climate change. Discussing on gender and environmental relations,
Ekezie (2010) stressed that gender is an important variable in environmental
discussion. According to Ekezie (2010), females appear to be closer to the
environment than their male counterparts in the sense that they need forest for
food generation as well as for fuel wood used for cooking. However, Chinedu
(2008) noted that while the females relate with the environment in a friendly
manner than their male counterparts. That is, the females merely engaged the
environment for agricultural purpose while males engaged the environment for
different purposes which are more serious such as falling forest trees for
timber, clearing forest for construction of road, building of houses and
factories amongst others.
With respect
to the above views, Ofoebe (2009) presented the view that environmental
sensitization programmes in and outside the school should take into cognizance
the gender difference or the physiological difference between male and female
which are obvious and expectedly affect the ways in which both sexes respond to
the environmental issues as climate change. Oruonye (2011) noted that the
different ways male and female are socialized tend to determined their
environmental exploration, degree of environmental manipulation and overall
relationship with the environment, including the general awareness and attitude
towards environmental problems like climate change. Indeed, the present study
sought among other things to determine if gender has influence on students’
awareness and attitude towards climate change as a peculiar environmental
problem.
On the other
hand, location of individuals could also affect their awareness and attitude
towards climate change. Location according to Benton (2000) is a geographical
place or an area. Ogunniyi (2008) opined that location can also mean a
settlement whether a village, town or city usually by human beings. Igwe (2003)
defined location as a place where something or person resides in the world.
Location in the context of this study means a geographical place or area where
somebody or something is situated. It could be rural or urban area.
Rural areas
are often made up of villages which may either be dispersed, nucleated or even
linear in their pattern of distribution on the land, with few buildings and
little number of people. It offers its settlers a simple and quiet life style.
Their major economic activity is farming with few amenities and services
centres. Thus, according to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2010),
climate change awareness and attitude of the rural dwellers in Nigeria is
directly proportional to the quantity and quality of information prevalent and
available to them. Urban areas are relatively large, dense and permanent
settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals. They could be towns, cities,
conurbations or metropolis. Urban areas have some characteristics – a large and
heterogeneous population, medical and political facilities, educational,
recreational, banking administrative and social activities, with highly
developed manpower (male and female), artisans etc who engage in
non-agricultural occupations, with highly impersonal relations. It is the
opposite of rural areas, with its sophisticated life and life activities.
The above
disparity between the urban and rural areas could influence their awareness and
attitude towards climate change. In line with this assumption, Nicholis and
Small (2003) opined that where people live (location) determine the how much
information and knowledge that get to them particularly in developing countries
like Nigeria. Although, Agiande (2006) found out in a study in Calabar that
location is no longer a barrier to students’ knowledge of environmental
problems (like climate change). Ishaya and Obaje (2008) in a study in Kaduna
also found out that location has no significant influence on students’
awareness of the problems of climate change. The present study intends to
determine if location have influence on students’ awareness and attitude
towards climate change in Umuahia education zone of Abia State.
Indeed, few
studies have been done to determine the students’ awareness and attitude
towards climate change. For instance, Ishaya & Abaje (2008) studied
indigenous people’s perception on climate change and adaptation strategies in
senior secondary schools in Jema Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The
study found out that the students’ possessed low awareness and poor attitude
towards climate change. Oruonye (2011) carried out assessment of the level of
awareness of the effects of climate change among students in Jalingo Metropolis
of Tabara State. The study found that the students used for the study are not
aware of climate change and that they possessed low attitude towards climate
change. Furthermore, related studies have been done on environmental education
awareness and attitude of students by Ofoebe (2009), Chinedu (2008) and Agiande
(2006) in Okigwe Education Zone, Imo State. Owerri Education Zone, Imo State.
Ogoja Education Zone, Cross River State respectively. Even though related
studies have been done with respect to secondary school students’ climate
change awareness and attitude, none of the studies were carried out in Abia
State. Thus, at present the status of secondary school students’ awareness and
attitude in Abia State is not known. This gap is what the present study tends
to fill by determining the climate change awareness and attitude of senior
secondary school students in Umuahia Education Zone, Abia State.
Statement of
the Problem
The inherent danger of climate change at
present constitutes one major global problem. In Nigeria, the consequences of
climate change have started manifesting in form of desertification, drought,
temperature rise, low agricultural yield, dry up of water bodies, flooding
among others. To curtail these climate change consequences, climate related
contents were infused into most secondary school curriculum. This infusion
strategy was meant to create awareness and positive attitude towards
environmental problems like climate change. However, the worry is that
notwithstanding, the instructional effort in school to promote awareness and positive
attitude towards climate change, people tend to continue in perpetuating the
acts that increase the rate of climate change. Indeed, studies have been done
in some parts of Nigeria like Kaduna, Imo and Cross River states to examine
students’ awareness and attitude towards climate change as a result of school
instructions. The major worry of the study is that it appears that such crucial
contemporary study has not been done in Abia State. This gap is what the
present study intends to fill.
Based on the
above gap, the problem of the study put in question form is what is the climate
change awareness and attitude of senior secondary school students in Umuahia
Education Zone of Abia State?
Purpose of
the Study
The general purpose of the study is to determine
the climate change awareness and attitude of senior secondary school students
in Umuahia Education Zone. Specifically, the study intends to;
i) Ascertain the extent of
senior secondary school students awareness of climate change.
ii) determine senior secondary
school students’ attitudes towards climate change.
iii) ascertain the extent of
climate change awareness of senior secondary school students in terms of
gender.
iv) determine climate change
attitude of senior secondary school students in terms of gender.
v) ascertain the extent of
climate change awareness of senior secondary school students in terms of school
location.
vi) determine climate change
attitudes of senior secondary school students in terms of school location.
Significance
of the Study
This study anchored on functionalism theory.
The theory holds that malfunctioning of any part of a system affects the
general functioning of the entire system. The planet earth is a system with the
atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and human beings as the crucial parts.
Therefore, malfunction of any part will affect the functioning of the entire
system. The findings of the study will help to support the functionalism theory
by showing how negative attitudes of people towards the environment affect the
functioning of the planet earth and this will help to sustain the relevance of
the theory.
The study
will also be significant to the students, government, society and curriculum
planners. The students stand a chance of benefiting from the study as it will
present them opportunity to appraise themselves particularly on their level of
awareness and attitude towards climate change. This will be possible because as
the students will be actively involved in the study through responding to the
items of the research instruments, they will understand (as they read through
the items) the issues in climate change such its meaning, causes, effects as
well as the positive attitudes needed for cautioning further increase and
effects of climate change.
For the
government and other environmentally focused non-governmental organizations,
the findings of the study will help to show the students’ awareness and
attitude towards climate change. This findings will enable the government and
other concerned non governmental organizations to ascertain if environmentally
relevant school subjects like Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Physics, Social
studies and Basic science have actually promoted students’ awareness and
attitude towards climate change. Again, non school based programmes like radio
jingles, television programmes and newspaper articles are really creating
awareness on climate change and influencing peoples’ attitude towards climate
change positively.
Furthermore,
the society which could be seriously affected as a result of the increasing
change in global climate will benefit from the present study. The society will
benefit because when the study successfully assessed the students’ awareness
and attitude towards climate change, the result will serve as a base on which
both government and other environmental concerned organizations will either
choose to intensify their awareness and attitudinal change campaign or choose
to re-strategize their campaign approach towards saving the environment. This
by implication will help to increase individual members of the society’s
awareness and positive attitude towards climate change thereby reducing human
activities that contribute to climate change and by extension save the society
and its people from destructive effect of climate change.
The
curriculum planners will also benefit from the present study. This is because
the successful completion of the study will enable the curriculum planners to
have the knowledge (through the students mean scores) of the climate change
awareness and attitude of senior secondary school students. This knowledge will
help the curriculum planners to determine if the senior secondary school
curriculum needs to be revisited so that more contents that could help to raise
the level of awareness and attitude of senior secondary school students on
climate change will be added if necessary.
Scope of the
Study
This study will be limited to the climate
change awareness and attitude of senior secondary school students. The study
will cover the meaning of climate change, causes and effects of climate change
as well as the strategies for promoting climate change in school. The study
will be carried out in all the senior secondary class two (SS2) in Umuahia
Education Zone, Abia State.
Research
Questions:
The following research questions guided the
study.
1) What is the climate change
awareness mean score of senior secondary school students in Umuahia education
zone?
2) What is the attitude mean
score of students towards climate change?
3) What are the climate change
awareness mean scores of male and female students?
4) What are the attitude mean
scores of male and female students towards climate change?
5) What are the climate change
awareness mean scores of students in terms of school location?
6) What are the attitude mean
scores of students towards climate change in terms of school location?
1) There is no significant
difference (p<0.05) in the climate change awareness mean score of male and
female senior secondary school students.
2) There is no significant
difference (p<0.05) in the attitude mean score of male and female senior
secondary school students towards climate change.
3) There is no significant
difference (p<0.05) in the climate change awareness mean score of urban and
rural senior secondary school students.
4) There is no significant
difference (p<0.05) in the attitude mean score of urban and rural senior
secondary school students towards climate change.
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