Design and application of an environmental attitudes scale in primary education / Diseño y aplicación de una escala de actitudes hacia el medio ambiente en educación primaria

Abstract

This research designs and applies an environmental attitudes scale for primary education. The pilot study, developed initially, describes the process used when designing a scale comprising 20 items applied to a sample of 49 children aged 10 to 12. In a second study, this instrument is then applied to a sample of 225 pupils from different locations around Spain. The definitive scale was made up of a total of 14 items, displaying acceptable reliability and pointing to the existence of a two-dimensional structure, labelling these two dimensions eco-affinity and eco-knowledge, respectively. An inverse significant correlation was observed between age and the dimension of eco-knowledge. No significant differences were found in the pro-environmental profile of the pupils with regard to residential environment, although such differences were noted in the dimension of eco-affinity with regard to gender, and for eco-knowledge with regard to reported behaviour of separating out waste for recycling. This paper discusses some of the implications for environmental education.