Research Article
KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES ON THE SUBJECT OF ENERGY CONSERVATION AS PART OF PRIMARY SCHOOL 6TH GRADERS’ ENERGY LITERACY
Abstract
Sustainable energy production and consumption is essential, directly linked to the environmental and social impacts and particularly related to the adults and students’ energy literacy. It is a major educational issue as electricity is present in all human activities. Particularly, in the context of pedagogical approaches, the rational use, saving or non-use of energy and resources are linked to the knowledge, perceptions and habits of students, in order to design appropriate learning environments, as steps to develop environmentally friendly behaviors, through energy literacy. Thus, proper and effective education for children on energy issues establishes energy literacy in the context of environmental education and sustainability. The purpose of the study is to highlight the students’ energy literacy, after attaining and completing basic education, before their transition to High School. The survey was conducted in May 2021 on 116 primary school students of the 6th grade in an urban area with an anonymous structured questionnaire, adapted to the children’s language skills, while the data were analyzed with the SPSS 25 statistical program. The results indicate high levels of energy-related knowledge, as the statements show the adoption of basic practices of energy saving and use in daily life, in the context of environmental education and sustainability. They also demonstrate concisely a more complete and successful personal interconnection with the study issues through the educational process as a result of the successful educational approaches of basic education for the environment and sustainability, while some minor misunderstandings, mainly cognitive, do not seem to affect their positive energy efficiency behavior.
Supporting Institution
University of the Aegean
References
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Year 2022,
Volume: 8 Issue: 22, 7 - 12, 04.05.2022
Abstract
References
- Ali, K. A., Ahmad, I. M. & Yusup, Y. (2020). Issues, Impacts and Mitigations of Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the Building Sector. Sustainability, 12, 7427. doi: 10.3390/su12187427
- Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods. (5th ed.). London: Oxford University Press.
- Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2017). Research methods in education. Oxford, UK: Routledge Publishers.
- Coyle, E. D. & Simmons, R. A. (Eds.). (2014). Introduction. In Understanding the Global Energy Crisis, pp. 1–8. Purdue University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wq56p.5
- Dark, M., Ngambeki, I., Depew, D. & Chong, R. (2014). Social Engagement by the Engineer. In E. D. Coyle & R. A. Simmons (Eds.), Understanding the Global Energy Crisis, pp. 73–88. Purdue University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wq56p.8
- De Waters, J. & Powers, S. (2013). Establishing Measurement Criteria for an Energy Literacy Questionnaire. The Journal of Environmental Education, 44(1), 38 - 55. https://naaee.org/eepro/research/library/establishing-measurement-criteria-energy
- Dobravec, V., Matak. N., Sakulin, C. & Krajačić, G. (2021). Multilevel governance energy planning and policy: a view on local energy initiatives. Energy, Sustainability and Society, 11(2), https://doi.org/10.1186/s13705-020-00277-y
- E.I.A. (2020). Electricity explained. Electricity and the environment. Accessed 27.10.2021 from: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-and-the-environment.php
- Eurostat. (2021). Energy statistics - an overview. Accessed 19-10-2021 from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Energy_statistics_-_an_overview
- Everett, T., Ishwaran, M., Ansaloni, G.P. & Rubin, A. (2010). Economic Growth and the Environment. Defra Evidence and Analysis Series, Paper 2, Defra.
- Fargas Malet, M., McSherry, D., Larkin, E. & Robinson, C. (2010). Research with children: methodological issues and innovative techniques. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 8(2), 175-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X09345412
- Glaviˇc, P. (2020). Identifying Key Issues of Education for Sustainable Development. Sustainability, 12, 6500. doi:10.3390/su12166500
- ICLEI. (2009). Sustainable Urban Energy Planning. A handbook for cities and towns in developing countries. United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN HABITAT, UNEP.
- Ivanova, D. & Wood, R. (2020). The unequal distribution of household carbon footprints in Europe and its link to sustainability. Global Sustainability, 3 (18), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2020.12
- Lay, Y-F., Khoo, C-H., Treagust, D. F. & Chandrasegaran, A. L. (2013). Assessing secondary school students’ understanding of the relevance of energy in their daily lives. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 8 (1), 199-215.
- Lefkeli, S., Manolas, E., Ioannou, K. & Tsantopoulos, G. (2018). Socio-Cultural Impact of Energy Saving: Studying the Behaviour of Elementary School Students in Greece. Sustainability, 10, 737. doi:10.3390/su10030737
- Martin, J-L., Maris, V. & Simberloff, S. D. (2016). The need to respect nature and its limits challenges society and conservation science. PNAS, 113 (22), 6105–6112.
- Merritt, G. E., Bowers, N., Rimm-Kaufman, E. S. (2019). Making connections: Elementary students’ ideas about electricity and energy resources, Renewable Energy, 138,1078-1086, ISSN 0960-1481,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.02.047
- Mittal, I. & Gupta, R. K. (2015). Natural Resources Depletion and Economic Growth in Present Era. SOCH - Mastnath Journal of Science & Technology (BMU, Rohtak), 10 (3), ISSN: 0976-7312. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2920080
- Oyedepo, S. O. (2012). Energy and sustainable development in Nigeria: the way forward. Energy, Sustainability and Society, 2 (15). https://doi.org/10.1186/2192-0567-2-15
- Papaoikonomou, D. A. (2021). An ordinal logistic regression model on civic education usefulness in Greece: empirical research in a sample of university students. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, 9(2), 18-25 ISSN (Online): 2321-9467.
- Papavasileiou, V. (2015). Sustainable Development and Education: A multidimensional relationship. Athens: Diadrasi. (in Greek)
- Poimenidis, D. & Papavasileiou, V. (2021). Energy literacy, recycling and rational use of materials in the daily life in students of the fifth class primary schools of an urban area. International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences, Vol. VII, Issue 20, 405-413.
- Poimenidis, D. & Papavasileiou, V. (2021). Investigation of energy literacy, practices of saving and rational use of electricity in students of fifth grade of primary schools. International E-Journal of Advances in Education, Vol. VII, Issue 20, 81-89.
- Poimenidis, D. & Papavasileiou, V. (2021). Primary school students' cognitive awareness on bicycling as energy literacy in the context of education for sustainability. Journal of Language and Education Policy, 2(4) 14-21. DOI: 10.48150/jlep.v2no4.2020.a3. ISSN:2691-6061
- Roser, M. (2020). The world’s energy problem. Accessed 18/10/2021 from https://ourworldindata.org/worlds-energy-problem
- van der Horst, D., Harrison, C., Staddon, S. & Wood, G. (2016). Improving energy literacy through student-led fieldwork - at home. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 40(1), 67-76. doi: 10.1080/03098265.2015.1089477
- Venter, E. & Ferreira, G. J. (2014). A Plea for Environmental Education That Focuses on Learning to Care. Journal of Human Ecology, 46(1), 33-38. doi: 10.1080/09709274.2014.11906703
- Yeh, S-C., Huang, J-Y. & Yu, H-C. (2017). Analysis of Energy Literacy and Misconceptions of Junior High Students in Taiwan. Sustainability, 9, 423. doi: 10.3390/su9030423
There are 29 citations in total.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Other Fields of Education |
| Journal Section | Articles |
| Authors | |
| Early Pub Date | May 4, 2022 |
| Publication Date | May 4, 2022 |
| Submission Date | February 5, 2022 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2022Volume: 8 Issue: 22 |
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