Evaluation of Environmental Awareness of University Students: the Case of the University of Presov, Slovakia

Abstract

At present, all components of the environment are burdened by human activities. These human activities have caused many environmental problems, and without appropriate measures, they will have other far-reaching consequences in the future, which may be irreversible. One of the basic measures for the sustainable future of the environment and human society is to build the environmental awareness of the population. In addition to other entities, universities and their students and graduates have an important role in this process. The study focuses on the evaluation and comparison of environmental awareness and its factors among students of the University of Presov in Presov, Slovakia. Based on the results of this research, social networks and the internet are used as the main source of environmental information and should be used as a means of raising environmental awareness among students. The students of the University of Presov achieved high environmental awareness within the cognitive and emotional factors of environmental awareness, but they achieved only moderate environmental awareness within the behavioral factor. There were no significant differences in the level of environmental awareness between male and female students at the University of Presov. From the point of view of the group of study fields variable, significant differences were found in the emotional and behavioral factors of environmental awareness, with students of "Humanities" and "Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Informatics" achieving the highest scores and students of "Social, Economic and Legal Sciences" and "Healthcare" achieving the lowest scores.

Environmental Awareness and Air Quality: The Mediating Role of Environmental Protective Behaviors

“…Moreover, the above-discussed literature indicated that environmental protective behavior is highly influenced by environmental awareness and climate change awareness [18,32], which, in turn, positively contributes to environmental quality [19,33]. Hence, the present study expects a significant mediating role for environmental protective behavior on the association among environmental awareness, climate change awareness, and environmental quality.…”

“…The study indicated that the laborers who were aware of different environmental issues are more likely to engage in eco-friendly behaviors that are very beneficial for environmental quality. Similarity Novotný et al [33] believed that the environment is hampered by human activities. Their study investigated whether humans who are aware of the adverse effects of environmental issues are more likely to engage in eco-friendly initiatives that resultantly improve environmental quality.…”

“…After reviewing the literature, the present study figured out that environmental protective behavior is highly influenced by environmental awareness and climate change awareness [18,32], which, in turn, positively contributes to environmental quality [19,33]. Researchers argued that the more individuals are aware of the environmental and climate change issues, the more they will be engaged in climate-friendly and pro-environmental behaviors, which resultantly promote environmental quality.…”

Una estrategia didáctica en educación ambiental con base en el manejo de residuos sólidos

“…Este trabajo, por sí mismo, contiene implicaciones pedagógicas evidentes: las estrategias de aprendizaje para alcanzar el aprovechamiento de las actividades relacionadas con el compostaje, promueven en los estudiantes una actitud cívica y una actitud productiva para las instituciones y para la sociedad en general. En relación con el aprovechamiento y manejo de residuos sólidos, así como la participación en proyectos ambientales, los estudiantes mostraron actitudes favorables, como puede comprobarse por su participación en la mayoría de las actividades propuestas, lo cual concuerda con lo encontrado por otros investigadores, en distintos niveles educativos que comprenden desde primaria hasta superior (Asilsoy et al, 2017;Álvarez et al, 2022;Gok y Kilic, 2021;Gutiérrez Sabogal, 2017;Herrera, 2017;Novotny et al, 2021;Scott, y Suisberger, 2019;Stoeva y Alriksson, 2017;Yilmaz et al, 2021). También, indica que, consistentemente, después de la intervención por medio de estrategias didácticas específicas, los alumnos presentaron un cambio de actitud positivo en relación con el tratamiento de residuos sólidos y lograron establecer relaciones entre los problemas ambientales a escala local, con las condiciones que podrían derivar del cambio climático a nivel global.…”

Soil Pollution Education: A Broad View of Knowledge on Soil Pollution and Educational Activities for Undergraduate Students

“…Various studies have demonstrated the concern of university students about environmental protection [20][21][22][23][24]. Student awareness signifies developing responsible behavior toward, in this case, soil pollution, based on knowledge and attitudes.…”