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Environmental Literacy can empower individuals to make appropriate environment-related choices and act more responsibly towards the environment. Environmental literacy was measured among a sample of 461 pre-service teachers enrolled at the Department of Preschool Education at the University of Ioannina, in Greece. Results indicate that pre-service teachers have positive attitudes towards the environment, a moderate level of environmental knowledge while their participation in environmental actions is limited, particularly collective actions. Statistical analyses also highlighted that Environment Literacy depends on year of study and high school course specialization. These findings are further discussed.

In recent decades, enhancing scientific literacy has been the ultimate goal of science education worldwide. This effort aims to develop the skills by individuals to cope with the challenges of the modern world, which requires scientific knowledge and thinking. This research study aimed to investigate and compare the scientific literacy level of Greek pre-service teachers and primary school students. The total number of participants was 787, of which 362 were pre-service teachers and 425 primary school students. Scientific literacy was assessed with the selected response measure of demonstrated scientific literacy (SLA-D). According to descriptive analyses and statistical hypothesis tests, pre-service teachers’ scientific literacy level was considered significantly higher than students, as was expected. However, the scientific literacy level of both pre-service teachers and students in the sample remained low. This work provides recommendations for actions that can help improve the scientific literacy level of both students and teachers so that schools become a source of scientifically literate future citizens.

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In a modern yet demanding society, scientific literacy (SL) is an essential skill that enables the individual to explain, understand and discuss issues related to science, health, and the environment. The purpose of this research study is to validate the Scientific Literacy Assessment (SLA) tool in the Greek language and investigate the level of SL of 362 Greek pre-service primary school teachers. Reliability and validity were examined using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and a statistical analysis was performed to verify the factor structure of the two components of SLA. The results revealed that the level of demonstrated knowledge (SLA-D1) was moderate while motivational beliefs about learning science were satisfactory (SLA-MB). In terms of demographic factors such as gender, high school course specialization and undergraduate year, the results demonstrated an effect on SLA scores. Recommendations for further research in primary teacher preparation programs are presented.