THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES AMONG STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY IN KUALA JENGAL

PRIMARY SCHOOL, TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA

Mohd Zaid Ismail Universiti Kebangaan Malaysia zaid5157@hotmail.com Arbaat Hassan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia arbaat@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT Goals of environmental education among students can be achieved through activities outside the classroom. Through various activities held continuously, awareness, attitude and environmental practices will be increased. The purpose of the study was to identify the relationship between environmental education activities and environmental practices among students. Samples were 30 students and 2 teachers from Kuala Jengal Primary School, in the state Terengganu, Malaysia. Data were gathered from Nature Club (NC) and Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), interviewing teachers and questionnaires students through Nature Club . The questionnaires contain 10 items regarding to environmental practices among students. Responds were based on 3 points Likert Scale (1= Never; 2=Sometimes; 3= Always).The data were analyzed using descriptive statistic involving frequency dan percentage. The data were also analyzed using inference statistic involving correlation between environmental education activities participated and environmental practices. The data from NC and MNS found that the students were actively involved in all activities and interview showed that high environmental awareness among students. The result from questionnaire showed that environmental practices among students were more than 70% (3= Always). There was strong relationship between activities participated and environmental practices among students where the value of r is 0.607 (p=0.01). From these results, researcher made conclusion that environmental education in that school is proudly implemented and environmental practices depend on activities participated. Nevertheless, a lot of related activities should be held and all school citizens should be involved. Keywords: Environmental Education (EE), Nature Club (NC), Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), environmental practices, awareness

INTRODUCTION Environment has strong relationship with life and mans activities. Most of human activities have impact on environment and environment influenced the survival of humans. This is because the interaction and interdependence between human and environment is a reciprocal (Jekayinfa & Yusuf, 2005). Therefore, all activities conducted should consider the effect on the environment and good practices to increase the quality of environment. The effective way to promote environmental awareness and attitudes are through education. This can be done by integrating environmental education at the early age or at primary school. According to Rosnani (2007), students should be able to become environmental citizen who are sensitive to environmental problems when they are inculcated with good environmental practices at the early age. They will become leaders in the future who concern about the environment where the destiny of the environment relies on them. Hungerford et. al. (1998) said good environment depends on world citizen and human is part of the environment. Environmental education is one of the factors for preventing environmental problems (Mosothwane, 2002; Ozden, 2008). Furthermore, it also promotes understanding, awareness and skills towards solving environmental problems. Palmer and Neal (1994) defined environmental education as:

i)

education about the environment, which builds awareness, understanding and the skills necessary to obtain the understanding. education in (or from) the environment, where learning occurs outside of the classroom, e.g. in nature education for the environment, which has objectives related to nature conservation and sustainable development.

ii)
iii)

School is the right and suitable place to start the teaching of environmental education. Introducing environmental education into school curriculum would enhance a quality environment, as citizens would be made environmentally conscious (Mosothwane, 2002). Environmental education can be used in many forms including nature camps,writting essays, community gardens, nature trails and outdoor activities for children. In Malaysia, formal environmental education is not only taught in the classroom by infusing it in various subjects like Science and Geography but also practiced outside the classroom in the co-curricular activities called Kelab Pencinta Alam (KPA) or Nature Club (NC). The Club was launched in August 1991 by the Ministry of Education. At the beginning, there were only twelve schools involved in the club from Klang Valley but presently the membership of the club increased to 300 all over Malaysia. The purpose of establishing the club was to promote deep understanding about environment and to foster environmental friendly attitude among school citizen (Buku Panduan Kelab Pencinta Alam, 2009). Through the club, students are given opportunities to actively involved in various activities and environmental practices . Among the activities involved are jungle tracking, recycling, making compost, workshops, seminars and camping. At the national level, there are programs for teachers and students such as workshops for teachers and students and special projects like Conserve Our Wetland Project, School River Basin and Water Quality Monitoring Project, Peat Swamp Study, Research and Adoption Program, Eagles Obsevation Week and so on. Through these activities,students are able to know the current issue relating to the environment, find new friends and change ideas among them. In the long term, the club plays an important role in promoting environmental education in schools especially through the involvements of the members in conserving the environment, development and distribution of materials as well as teaching strategies in environmental education. Most importantly, it is expected to fulfill the aim of the environmental education in fostering environmental sensitivity and interest in nature and promoting a responsible lifestyle. The main objective of environmental education is to promote awareness, knowledge, skills and participation towards a better quality of the environment among world citizens (Arbaat, 2006; Arbaat et. al, 2009). By participating in the activities outside the classroom, it is hoped that students will exhibit good environmental practices because it was found that students who were exposed to outdoor activities showed their improvement in knowlegde, attitudes and practices compared to those in traditional classes or in classroom (Ajiboye & Silo, 2008; Carrier, 2009). The study intended to determine the relationship between environmental education activities and environmental practices among students in primary school. The research questions is whether there is a relationship between environmental education activities and environmental practices. The school selected in the study was Kuala Jengal Primary School in Dungun, Terengganu. The nature club of the school was recognised to be actively participated in most activities held by Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). The school was situated in rural area near to waterfall and sorrounded by rivers and untouched forest which offers diverse flora and fauna in the District of Dungun, Terengganu.

METHODOLOGY The study used the data of activities that were collected from the school Nature Club(NC) and Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). Besides, interview with two club advisor teachers was also conducted. The teachers interviewed were also coordinator of environmental education at the state level.

The study was conducted quantitatively using survey method about environmental practices among students. The samples were 30 students who were the members of the school Nature Club (NC). The instrument used was the questionnaires consisted of two sections. Section A was about the background of students including number of activities participated. Whereas section B was about the environmental practices among students. There were ten items regarding to environmental practices among students. The responds were based on 3 points Likert Scale (1= Never; 2=Sometimes; 3= Always). The questionnaires were distributed to students and data were gathered. Then, the data were processed and analyzed using descriptive statistics to find the value of frequency and percentage. The data were also presented in terms of bar charts . Inference analysis was analyzed using SPSS version 11.5. The study used Pearson Correlation to identify the relationship between the environmental activities participated with the environmental practices among students. RESULTS Data collected from Schools Nature Club and Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Until July 2009, the number of Schools Nature Clubs registered with Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) were 380 schools. In Terengganu, there were 31 schools registered with MNS and among them were few schools participated actively including Kuala Jengal Primary School. The school was the first school in Terengganu participated in Nature Club since 2005. The activities held in 2009 where students from the school participated in most of the activities are illustrated in Table 1. The findings indicate that environment education is actively implemented in the school. Some activities involved the participation of students and teachers and some of them involved teachers only. The programs that involved students and teachers were in the form of camping and awareness camp.

Table 1: Reports of Nature Club Activities 2009 PROGRAMS Nature Club Camping Students Facilitators Workshop Nature Club Workshop Planting trees program Monitoring of water quality Workshop for coordinators 1-day program in conjunction with Eagle Observation week Environmental awareness camp VENUE Tanjung Tuan, Melaka Turtles Sanctuary Centre, Kerteh, Terengganu Taman Negara, Tanjung Piai School River of Dungun Ulu Gopeng, Perak Tanjung Tuan, Melaka Teluk Ketapang, Gong Badak ACTIVITIES Eagle observation Speech : Turtles country heritage Speech : Marine Ecosystems Green the school area in group Monitoring water quality Speech Forest Ecology Peat Swamp Ecology Speech

Source : Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) dan Nature Club Kuala Jengal Primary School (2009)

Interview with Schools Nature Club advisor teachers Based on the study, after getting involved in all activities, most students got high awareness towards environment. Their attitudes also become more positive according to their participation in activities held in school such as planting trees, cleanliness program, building science park and so on. Opinions from two advisor teachers of Schools Nature Club were sought through interview. Below are the findings obtained from the interview : Teacher A Many students like to join the club because it offers fun learning to them but membership is limited. They are very interested to get involved in various activities. In addition, after joining the club they will get membership card. After getting involved in activities, their awareness and attitude towards environment are very positive. Cleanliness become their culture and always offer themselves to any cleanliness program such as cleaning school area and hostel. One of the programs that makes them become excited is planting trees or greening school area in group. Teacher B Kuala Jengal Primary School was the only school in Terengganu given opportunities to involve in Water Quality Competition at international level. They were provided with water quality monitoring kit to test the PH and oxygen level in water. The school is suitable with the competition because it is situated between two rivers.

Findings from questionnaire about good environmental practices among students a) Number of activities participated Table 2 shows the number of activities participated by students. From the table, it shows that most students took part in more than four activities from seven activities held annually. The highest percentage of involvement is 13.3% or ten students involved in five activities. Table 3: Number of activities participated by students Number of activities 4 5 6 7 Total Frequency 5 10 9 6 30 Percentage 16.7 33.3 30.0 20.0 100

b) Environmental practices among students Table 3 shows the percentage for environmental practices level among students. Findings from this study showed that the environmental practices were proudly practiced. In each items, students showed higher percentage or exceeding 70% except for item seven. It described their level of awareness and attitude towards environment because of their participation in activities held either in school, state, national or international level. Figure 1 shows the percentage of environmental practices in bar chart presentation.

Table 3: Percentage of environmental practices 1 (%) 3.3 3.3 3.3 0 3.3 0 6.7 3.3 0 16.7 2 (%) 16.7 13.3 20.0 10.0 13.3 6.7 20.0 10.0 0 30.0 3 (%) 80.0 83.3 76.7 90.0 83.3 93.3 73.3 86.7 100.0 53.3

No.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Items
I always separate my waste product such as paper, tin, glass and so on. I recycle old newspaper I use shower pipe when washing my fathers car I use shower when taking bath I turn off pipe when brushing my teeth I turn off lamp/computer/air conditioner when not in use. I use both side of paper when writing. I use handkerchief to avoid using tissue paper. I ensure my school and house area always clean by using rubbish ban. I use rechargeable battery without cadmium

(1= Never; 2= Sometimes; 3= Always)

Percentage of students (%)

Items Never Sometimes Always

Figure 1: The percentage of environmental practices among students.

Relationship between participation in environmental education activities and environmental practices. Finding shows relationship between the participation of students in environmental activities and environmental practices was strong. Table 4 indicates the correlation value (r) is 0.607. This value shows strong correlation each other. Table 4: Correlation between participation in environmental activities and environmental practices. N Environmental education activities Environmental practices Significant at level 0.01 DISCUSSION The limitation of the study was in the selection of the samples. The sample involved the students from Schools Nature Club in Kuala Jengal Primary School, Dungun, Terengganu only. Finding from the data showed that this school was actively participated in all environmental education activities held by MNS. All activities were held outside the classroom where they were given opportunity to involve and feel the real situation in learning environmental education. Learning was more fun outside the classroom rather than applying traditional learning in the classroom situation which is highly teacher dominated. This is in line with the findings of Ajiboye and Silo (2008) where according to them, students were more involved and learned better in civic clubs because they were exposed to many activities. Finding obtained from interviews with two advisor teachers showed that they found their students were very interested, aware and feel responsible towards keeping environmental clean after being exposed to various and continuous environmental activities in nature club. The good results might be attributed to the fact that environmental concepts were well discussed in the activities. The more activites they engaged, the more understanding, knowledge and skills they gained. The findings supported the study by Jeronen et. al. (2008) about environmental education in nature schools in Finland. In their study, they found that activities like nature trip, game or playing, inquiry learning and story telling had increased environmental sensitivity among students. Normally such activities conducted during camping and workshop outside the classroom. The results of the relationship between environmental education activities and environmental practices among students showed that the students performed very well in their practices towards environment. It indicated that environmentals education activities was directly proportional to environmental practices among students. In the other words, students who involved in majority of environmental activities demonstrated good environmental practices. This was clearly shown from their responses to the most of the questionnaire items where majority of the students showed good environmental practices. The percentage is exceeded 70% except for the the last item, about using rechargeable batteries and without cadmium. This was because they were not exposed to that kind of batteries as they lived in rural area and far from town. However, for the item about ensuring the cleanliness of school and house using rubbish bans, the percentage was 100%. This revealed their awareness and attitude toward environment after participatng in a lot of activities in nature club. Even though the school is situated far from town, the students were very concern about environment. The result showed opposite findings from Ozden (2008) in his study on student teachers in Turkey where those who were living in big cities had more positive attitudes towards environmental issues than student teachers living in villages. The reason might be, in this study, the situation of the school was strongly related to the environment in terms of its sorrounding. The school is sorrounded by vegetation and near to the river where the environment is maintained naturally compared to the schools located in town or big cities. Therefore, they love environment they live so much and have a good feeling to sustain it. In 30 0.607 0.00 R P

addition, both their advisor teachers were experience, involved in many environmental education programs and as environmental coordinators in state level. The implication is that the students participated in schools nature club will become good generation who are sensitive to environmental issues. This generation will eventually gain high knowledge, awareness, skills and participation in environmental issues as stated in environmental education goals. The continuous exposure to environmental education activities outside the classroom or in nature club is one of the approaches to promote awareness and attitudes towards environment. According to Arbaat et. al (2009), learning where the people are directly involved with nature such as exploring to nature places and environment education centres considered as learning by doing is believed to be highly meaningful and remembered longer by the students.

RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the findings in this study, reseacher proposed the same study to other schools in Malaysia in order to compare with the data findings to this school in terms of awareness and attitudes towards environment. The experimental study is also proposed to ensure either the awareness, attitudes and good environmental practices among students really come from their active participation in nature club or viceversa. Further studies can also be conducted to compare the environmental awareness and attitudes among students by taking into account the gender factor. According to Carrier (2009), environmental behaviour and attitudes of male students is better than female students when exposed to the activities outside the classroom. Researcher also suggest that the Ministry of Education to review the curriculum of environmental education by adding various activities outside the classroom rather than to infuse into existing curriculum. This can be done by making environmental education as a single subject.

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