The Influence of Environment Education on Critical Thinking and Environmental Attitude

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of environmental education on students' critical thinking and environmental attitudes. The sample of the study included 8th grade students from five schools which were randomly selected from different districts of Sakarya. Survey research method was employed in the study. The Critical Thinking Test in Environmental Education (CTTEE) was used in order to measure critical thinking skills of the students in environmental education. The test is comprised of three lower dimensions titled as "Conclusions, Inferencesand Identifying Bias". The environmental attitude scale, which was also used in the study. In this study, it was attempted to determine the variability in the outcome variable and to question whether critical thinking is attributable to gender, socio-economic status and school type. The results of the study suggested that the subjects in the sample have an average critical thinking skills level in environmental education. Ancova and t-test results also showed a meaningful statistical significance in the students' critical thinking skills and attitudes towards the environment in terms of gender, socio-cultural level and school type. Moreover, in accordance with the results obtained from the study, it could be stated that The Critical Thinking Test in Environmental Education (CTTEE) may be used to identify critical skills of primary school students and the Environmental Attitude Scale may be employed as a useful measurement tool to determine the attitudes of the primary school students toward the environment.