From Thoughts to Actions: The Importance of Climate Change Education in Enhancing Students' Self-Efficacy

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Submitted Manuscript (SM)

Author(s)
Muroi, Subaru Ken
Bertone, Edoardo
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2019
Size
File type(s)
Location
License
Abstract

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.

Journal Title

Australian Journal of Environmental Education

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume

35

Issue

2

Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2019 Australian Association of Environmental Education (AAEE). This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal website for access to the definitive, published version.

Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Environmental sciences

Education

Human society

Social Sciences

Education & Educational Research

Bayesian networks

climate change education

national education policy

Persistent link to this record
Citation

Muroi, SK; Bertone, E, From Thoughts to Actions: The Importance of Climate Change Education in Enhancing Students' Self-Efficacy, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 2019, 35 (2), pp. 123-144

Collections