ERIC Number: EJ1234909
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Jul
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0814-0626
EISSN: N/A
From Thoughts to Actions: The Importance of Climate Change Education in Enhancing Students' Self-Efficacy
Muroi, Subaru Ken; Bertone, Edoardo
Australian Journal of Environmental Education, v35 n2 p123-144 Jul 2019
The relation between the understanding and belief of the site-specific dangers of climate change and the behaviour that individuals take to mitigate their impacts was assessed to investigate the psychological antecedent to pro-environmental behaviour; a necessity to mitigate anthropogenic climate change at the individual level. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed to measure beliefs and behaviour of university students. Correlation was measured between the belief in one's ability to affect change and pro-environmental behaviour. The hypothesis that nations facing greater climate threat would behave accordingly was tested on the two largest national representatives of the sample, China and Australia. In addition, a naïve Bayesian network, coupled with a self-organising map, was developed to explore correlations between self-efficacy and participants' socio-demographic features. Results showed that Chinese students are more likely to have higher self-efficacy, while such trend was not noticed for Australians. Similarly, participants with higher educational qualifications, older, and with higher paid jobs also have a higher chance of presenting pro-environmental behaviour. Despite the study limitations, there seems to be evidence suggesting that educational and climate change policies have affected students' self-efficacy and individual commitment to mitigation.
Descriptors: Climate, Environmental Education, Self Efficacy, College Students, Student Attitudes, Student Behavior, Conservation (Environment), Foreign Countries, Educational Attainment, Age Differences, Income, Student Characteristics, Change Agents
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China; Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A