CLIMATE CHANGE AWARENESS AND ATTITUDE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN UMUAHIA EDUCATION ZONE, ABIA STATE.
ABSTRACT
This research was a descriptive survey aimed at determining the climate change awareness and attitude of senior secondary school students in Umuahia education zone of Abia State. To guide the study, six research questions and four hypotheses were formulated and answered. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample sixteen (16) schools out of the thirty-four (34) secondary schools and six hundred and forty students out of two thousand and twelve students in the zone. Two instruments titled “Climate Change Attitude Scale (CCAS) and Awareness Scale for Climate Change (ASCC)” were used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using mean score and standard deviation to answer the research questions while Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The major findings of the study were that senior secondary school students in Umuahia education zone have low climate change awareness and attitude, there is no significant different between the male and female students mean score on climate change awareness and attitude, and that there is a significant different between the urban and rural students mean score on the climate change awareness and attitude. Based on the findings of the study, relevant conclusions were drawn. The study recommended that in-service training should be organized for senior secondary school teachers to exposure them on need to promote climate change awareness and attitude of students, that curriculum planners should infuse more climate change contents in relevant senior secondary school and that concerned education authorities should ensure that quality education activities are carried out in rural areas as it is obtainable in urban areas. Finally, areas for further studies were suggested.