PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH SYSTEM THINKING APPROACH: PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE

The study was carried out on promoting environmental sustainability through system thinking approach: pre-service teachers’ knowledge and attitude. Four research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The design for the study was a descriptive survey design. The population of the study consisted of 148 level 200 to 400 Chemistry Education Undergraduate students in Science Department Education, Faculty of Education, Akwa Ibom State University. A sample size of 50 students was selected as sample for the study. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select the students for the study. The researcher developed instrument entitled “Pre-Service Teachers' Attitude and Knowledge of Environmental Sustainability through System Thinking Questionnaire (PTAKESSTQ)” was used for data collection. The instrument was subjected to face validation. A reliability coefficient of 0.83 was obtained for the instrument using inter-item correlation method. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while independent t-test was used to test the hypothesis formulated to guide the study. The finding of the study showed that the attitude of pre-service teachers towards promoting environmental sustainability through system thinking approach is positive; the level of knowledge of pre-service teachers regarding environmental sustainability through system thinking is high; there is no significant difference in the attitudes of male and female pre-service teachers towards promoting environmental sustainability through system thinking approach; there is no significant difference in the level of knowledge of male and female pre-service teachers regarding environmental sustainability through system thinking. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that pre-service teachers have positive attitude and high level of knowledge for promoting environmental sustainability through system thinking approach in Akwa Ibom State University. It was recommended among others that, Chemistry education department should partner with professional bodies to organize workshops to both male and female pre-service teachers on the need for promoting environmental sustainability through system thinking approach. This will help to enhance their attitude towards system thinking.