A COMPARISON OF TWO ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS: A POLLUTION UNIT AS USED IN EGYPTIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND A BSCS-TYPE POLLUTION UNIT AS MEASURED BY ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the biological knowledge of and positive scientific attitude toward environmental problems as presented in Egyptian secondary school programs as they compare to the BSCS biology program; i.e., the unit on environmental pollution as presented in the first grade of the general (academic) secondary school in Alexandria, Egypt, with a BSCS-type environmental pollution unit taught in the same location. This evaluation was investigated in an attempt to answer the following questions: (1) What were the differences and similarities in the students' achievement while studying these two units? (2) What was the effect of the two units on the development of the students' positive scientific attitudes toward the environmental pollution problem?;The findings resulting from testing all null hypotheses were: (1) There was no significant difference in mean scores between the non-BSCS students and the BSCS students (males and females combined) on achievement as measured by the Pollution Knowledge Test. (2) There was no significant difference in mean scores between the non-BSCS students and the BSCS students (males and females separately) on achievement measured by the Pollution Knowledge Test. (3) There was no significant difference in mean scores between the non-BSCS students and the BSCS students (males and females combined) on the positive attitude toward the environmental pollution problem as measured by the Pollution Attitude Inventory. (4) There was a significant difference in mean scores between the non-BSCS students and the BSCS students (males and females separately) on the positive attitude toward the environmental pollution problem as measured by the Pollution Attitude Inventory.;The pretest-posttest control group design was used as the experimental design for this study. One hundred and seventy-two students were randomly selected from Hooda Sharawe Secondary School for Girls and from Mostafa Kamel Secondary School for Boys (86 students from each school); both schools are in Alexandria, Egypt. Two classes (86 students) were designated as the BSCS group (one in each school) and the other two classes (86 students) made up the non-BSCS group (Egyptian traditional group). The investigator taught both control and experimental classes. Also the investigator constructed the Pollution Knowledge Test to measure the students' achievement and the Pollution Attitude Inventory to measure the students' attitudes toward the environmental pollution problem. Reliability and validity of the test instrument were established. The BSCS-pollution-type unit was selected from the Yellow Version, and was translated and adapted to the Egyptian environment. Each group of the experimental and control treatments was pretested using measurements of achievement and attitude toward the environmental pollution problem. The posttest instruments were given to the students at the end of the experiment. The data were analyzed using the analysis of variance with repeated measures (ANOVR).