Evaluating The Perception of Climate Change Among Secondary School Science Teachers for Knowledge-Based Sustainable Development

Abstract

There appears to be lack of knowledge about the cause and effect of climate change amongst the secondary school students. This asks for evaluation of their source of knowledge in schools through the assessment of their teachers’ knowledge and/or perception about climatic change. The survey research design was adopted and the perception of the secondary school science teachers’ (SSSTs) evaluated using questionnaire. The results showed that SSSTs perception of human activities associated with climate change and the effects of human activities associated with climate is moderate. This was very clear when the grand mean responses of the teachers were found to be 2.81 and 2.61 respectively. The student t-test statistics used at P>0.05 confirmed that there is no significant difference between the perception of urban and rural SSSTs on their perception of climate change. At P>0.05, there is significant difference between experienced and less experienced SSSTs on their perception of climate change.  The research concludes that there is knowledge gap in our secondary school educational system concerning climate change. Therefore, it recommends capacity building in science-teaching education curriculum for knowledge-based sustainable development.

Keywords: Curriculum, Global warming, Environmental Education, Greenhouse gases, Deforestation

DOI: 10.7176/CER/13-5-03

Publication date:August 31^st 2021