Teaching Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Challenge in Indonesian Schools

Abstract

Although most researchers agree that environmental education is very important to develop pro-environmental behavior (PEB) in children, it is uncertain whether environmental education has positive outcomes, especially in Indonesian schools. This study tried to get some insight into whether green school students will have a higher nature relatedness and thus will behave more environmentally friendly, compared with students from schools with a regular national curriculum. In this study, 304 elementary public schools’ students and 229 green schools’ students participated. Data were collected through self-report scale, behavioral observation and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The result shows that green school student’s, as well as children from public school, do not differ in their appreciation and understanding of their interconnectedness with all other living things on the earth. In other words, their nature relatedness (NR) are relatively similar. As hypothesized, if faced with the choice to act environmentally friendly, the PEB of green school students were significantly higher than public school students. But interestingly, information from FGD reveals that green school children PEB is not based on knowledge or concern for the environment, but rather a result of habituation and social modelling of their friends. On the other hand, public schools students have the knowledge, but they do not implement it in daily lives because they are not used to do it. It is concluded that environmental education curriculum does have a role in shaping students PEB, but to develop a sustainable PEB in young children, schools should focus on environmental knowledge, to develop and internalized pro-environmental value, and they should also develop ways to habituate PEB.

Environmental knowledge, attitudes, and practices for behavior change of university students: the case of Indonesia

“…People failed to prepare for these disasters because of their ignorance of the environment's safety (Firdaus, 2020). According to Djuwita & Benyamin (2019), environmental education is critical to developing pro-environmental behavior, but it is still uncertain if the knowledge contributes to positive outcomes, especially in Indonesian schools.…”

The green-based school and the creation of student’s environmental attitude and behavior

“…On this scale, the Author adds an image to each item to make it easier for students to understand the meaning of the question and to increase student attractiveness. A Likert scale that was reduced to a 4-point scale by removing neutral options is used to avoid centration (Djuwita and Benyamin 2019).…”

En Prensa Influencia Del Comportamiento Pro Ambiental De Profesores Sobre Estudiantes Universitarios en Cuarentena en Prensa

“…Para poder prevenir y solucionar las diversas problemáticas ambientales, la investigación en el campo de las ciencias del comportamiento ha dado cuenta de la necesidad de profundizar en los antecedentes sobre las transacciones persona ambiente que son benéficas para la promoción de la sustentabilidad ambiental (Djuwita & Benyamin, 2022).…”

“…To prevent and solve environmental problems, research in the behavioral sciences field has exposed the need to deepen the background on personenvironment transactions that are beneficial for the promotion of environmental sustainability (Djuwita & Benyamin, 2022). This type of research is of relevance when generating educational interventions aimed at the establishment of favorable behaviors toward the environment (Ajaps & McLellan, 2015).…”

“…Para educar hacia los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible (SDGs), los enfoques centrados en las personas, orientados a la acción y transformadores, representan la forma más eficiente de capacitar a los estudiantes para un comportamiento proambiental en su diario accionar (Saldaña-Almazán, et al, 2020). Una alternativa directa de promover el comportamiento proambiental dentro del ámbito educativo es aquella que involucra el modelamiento de dicha conducta por parte de figuras de autoridad que sean respetadas y admiradas, tales como padres y profesores (Djuwita & Benyamin, 2022;Jia & Yu, 2021;Uçar & Canpolat, 2019).…”