An Integrated Model Approach: Exploring the Energy Literacy and Values of Lower Secondary Students in Japan

Abstract

Energy literacy is a minimum required capacity for developing a sustainable society that participates in and discusses on energy and environmental (EE) issues. Understanding the energy literacy structure is of significant importance for providing effective energy education to promote people's awareness of EE issues. In this article, an energy literacy structural model integrated with the Theory of Planned Behavior and Value-Belief-Norm Theory was investigated for 1070 lower secondary students (ages 13-15) in Japan. Structural equation modeling uncovered that the awareness of consequences is the most powerful predictor for the causality between basic energy knowledge and energy-saving behavior through the attitude toward the energy-saving behavior. A conditional process analysis elucidated that (1) the conditional effect of basic energy knowledge on the awareness of consequences depends on scientific literacy, critical thinking ability, and environmental worldview, and (2) the conditional direct and indirect effects in the mediation model of awareness of consequences on the attitude toward energy-saving behavior through the ascription of responsibility depend on environmental worldview or values and family discussion of energy-related issues. The energy literacy model proposed provides a theoretical contribution to the development of an effective energy education program.

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“…Therefore, to provide an effective educational manner, it is needed to understand both the current status and structure of people's energy literacy through the investigation in different attributes. In particular, understanding the relation between the knowledge and behaviors is of critical importance (Akitsu & Ishihara, 2018). We need to examine these matters objectively and theoretically.…”

“…Figure 1. Hypothesis model of energy literacy structure adopted by Akitsu & Ishihara (2018) It is depicted that the belief factors (awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility) and personal norm (VBN components) which are activated by the basic energy knowledge predict the attitude toward the behavior. And the intention to energy-saving behavior is explained by the attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (TPB components).…”

“…Energy literacy structural model of lower secondary school students in Japan with standardized coefficients. Nonsignificant estimates are indicated by the * symbol and dashed lines adopted by Akitsu & Ishihara (2018) The current study attempts to assess the applicability of the energy literacy model through the international survey, and provides empirical data on cross-cultural perspectives on energy literacy. The conditions of candidates were: the low energy self-sufficient country; the island country, and the Southeast Asian countries where have been developing rapidly and consuming a large amount of energy.…”

“…The conditions of candidates were: the low energy self-sufficient country; the island country, and the Southeast Asian countries where have been developing rapidly and consuming a large amount of energy. As a result of collecting samples, we focused on Thailand and compared with Japanese students adopted from our previous study (Akitsu & Ishihara, 2018).…”

“…The questionnaire was carried out in the classroom by each school teacher. The valid responses of 635 without missing values (58% valid response rate) were analyzed by integrated with the sample of Japan (N = 1070, Akitsu & Ishihara, 2018) to extract characteristics of each country from the common data. The distribution of gender and grade differs according to each teacher since the number of classes and the grade level that teachers are in charge vary by each school.…”