Knowledge, attitude, and behaviour toward environmental awareness among secondary school students in Indonesia / Muhammad Imam Firmanshah

The worldwide environmental situation is concerning due to a lack of community awareness about the environment, such as the fact that disposal of waste in any site adds to contamination of the ecosystem. Consequently, there is a crisis of biological resources being harmed, of shrinking forests and restricted water supplies, as well as of erosion and soil degradation, sedimentation, coastal abrasion, and coral reef destruction. The approach taken to address these concerns is to involve local residents in government-led environmental preservation initiatives. Increasing public knowledge and enlightening the younger generation are two additional options for solving environmental challenges. This research aimed to investigate the level of students’ knowledge, attitudes, behavior and awareness toward the environment; to determine the relationship among students’ environmental knowledge, environmental attitudes and environmental behavior towards environmental awareness, and to identify whether knowledge, attitudes, or behavior serve as predictor towards the environmental awareness. This study utilised quantitative methods for data collection and applied correlational analysis to determine the relationship among students’ environmental knowledge, environmental attitudes, environmental behavior and environmental awareness at public secondary school in Lombok. The results found that the majority of students (n=272) have a low level of knowledge, while the students have positive attitude and behavior toward environment. The level of student awareness falls between middle and low category. Students’ environmental knowledge was found to be significantly and positively correlated with environmental awareness. The result of linear regression analysis indicated that the environmental knowledge was a significant predictor toward environmental awareness. The present study offers valuable insights and recommendations for teachers about the implementation of environmental learning to enhance students' sensitivity towards the environment. These recommendations encompass not only classroom-based activities but also outdoor experiences that aim to cultivate students' environmental awareness. Furthermore, it is imperative to present substantiated evidence pertaining to the inadequate level of environmental knowledge and awareness. This evidence serves as a foundation for school leaders to actively promote peer-to-peer learning among instructors and facilitate the exchange of experiences from other educational institutions.