Attitudes about environmental issues among agriscience students in Texas

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of secondary agriscience students about environmental issue. Methodology The study was conducted during the Spring of 1993. The population consisted of all agriscience students in the state of Texas. A random sample of agriscience programs in Texas yielded twenty-five agriscience programs as the sampling units. Agriscience teachers from participating programs distributed twenty survey instruments to individual students. The responses were electronically scanned into the mainframe computer system at Texas A&M University. These data were then evaluated statistically using the analysis program SPSS". Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the students and to determine sources of environmental education. Correlation statistics and analysis of variance were used to determine if there were relationships between selected variables and environmental attitude. Major Findings 1.A majority of the students were male and between the ages of 15 and 17 years old. 2.Agriscience students were found to have an overall favorable environmental attitude. 3.Students with favorable environmental attitudes believed that agriculture does cause some environmental problems. 4.Students who were willing to enroll in an environmental course had a more favorable environmental attitude than those who were unwilling to enroll or uncertain about enrolling in an environmental course. 5. Students with a favorable environmental attitude believed that information they receive on the environment was fair and unbiased. 6.Students who practiced water conservation on their own were found to have a favorable environmental attitude. 7.Enrollment in or completion of AGSC 381, "Wildlife and Recreation Management," was found to have a relationship with overall environmental attitude. Students who had enrolled in or completed this course had a more favorable environmental attitude than those who did not. 8.Teachers were found to be the most preferred source of information on the environment.