Evaluating The Environmental Attitudes of Secondary School Students in Terms Of Behaviors, Feelings, Thoughts, and Willingness to Take Action

The present study aims to determine the environmental attitudes of secondary school students in terms of behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and willingness to take action and to examine them in terms of certain variables. Survey model was used in this study and the data obtained from 1280 students who attend 6th, 7th, and 8th grade by using “The Environmental Attitudes Scale” was evaluated. It was realized that the students participating in the study have high environmental attitudes. It was determined that the students have high environmental feelings, thoughts, and behaviors and are willing to take actions to protect the environment. It was understood that although the students have high environmental attitudes, they have a difficulty in converting these attitudes to behaviors, and there are not parallelisms between their environmental behaviors and their environmental thoughts. Moreover, it was found out that the female students have higher environmental attitudes in comparison to the male students; rise in educational level does not bring about a change in the positive environmental thoughts of the students; and the higher science grades the students have in their school reports, the higher environmental attitudes they have.