The Impact of Nature Education on Turkish Students’ Affective Tendencies towards the Environment and Scientific Curiosity

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the impacts of nature education on the affective tendencies and science curiosities of students. In this study, one group pretest-posttest test design was used. The study group consists of 30 seventh grade students studying in Istanbul, Turkey. In the study, nature education implementations were carried out as 14 activities for five days. Some activities were held in university laboratories, some in trips, and out-of-school settings. The data of the study were collected by the Environment Affect Scale and Children’s Science Curiosity Scale. The quantitative data collected were analyzed with the SPSS program. As a result of this study, it was found that the students' affective tendencies towards the environment improved significantly after the implementation. In addition, it was observed that students' scientific curiosity increased positively.