Secondary School Students’ Level of Awareness about the Causes of Environmental Change in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan

Abstract

This study intends to assess students' attitudes at secondary-level schools about the causes of environmental changes and related issues across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. All human beings, especially students at the school level, need to understand the fragility of our environment and the importance of its protection to create a bright future. In the study, the researcher used a quantitative approach by surveying 10th class (N=169782) students’ of 2227 Public Secondary schools. A multi-stage sampling technique was applied to determine the sample size through four (4) stages, namely; a random selection of 7 districts from seven divisions of KP, referring to the number of male/female schools in the selected districts, a random selection of 10 schools in each randomly selected district and identifying one section of science and one section of humanities of 10th class as the participants for the purpose. Researchers have used a self-developed data collection tool (self-reported test) made from the science syllabus of the 10th class. In the instrument, the study objective was reflected from item1 to item14 only.  The instrument was made valid and reliable through expert opinions and the pilot testing method. Overall, the study results showed that all the students had satisfactory awareness of the causes of environmental change. It also revealed significant differences regarding demographic variables such as students from the science and humanities section, gender, and area. Results were discussed, and recommendations were given regarding the environmental changes so that all students across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the country could cope with the changes.