Forest Conservation: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Preparatory School Students

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to assess students’ environmental knowledge, attitude, and practice about forest conservation. Descriptive research method was used for the study. The participants of the study were 85 students from the preparatory school who were in the last year of their study. Results show that students in general, have a fair to a good level of environmental knowledge. However, this held knowledge did not escort them to environmentally responsible behavior. In addition, the findings of the study indicate that there was a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude and a weak relationship between students’ level of knowledge and environmental good practices. Similarly, very weak correlation was found between attitude and practice. Analyses of gender effect reveal that female students’ environmental participatory behavior was higher than their male counterparts. Results further pointed out that students living in rural area scored significantly higher than their urban counterparts on environmentally responsible action. Nonetheless, sizeable similar studies of this kind have been carried out in different parts of the world, this study is likely to contribute to the knowledge predestined on Ethiopian context that striving to rehabilitate degraded environment. The mismatch between environmental knowledge and environmentally favorable behavior calls for among others use of methodologies in classroom that help students to see their behavior more critically.