A Study On Environmental Consciousness For Primary And Middle School Students In Rocky Desertification Region

Environmental awareness refers to people’s subjective reflection on the objective existence of ecological environment. It is used as an important indicator of modern civilization, measuring civilization levels for a country, a nation, and is of great significance to guide the relationship between human and nature. Awareness guides behavior. In order to solve problems of environmental pollution fundamentally, and change unrestricted modes of production, cultivation of human’s consciousness for environment must take the lead in this process. Under this context, the study of people’s environment consciousness is a key area of the current trend. It is well known that desertification has seriously affected the ecological balance and sustainable development in economy of Southwest China. With development policies in the West China, for the harmonious development between economy and ecological environment, it is imperative to develop the local people’s correct environmental awareness. Primary and high school students are the future masters of the environment, and their environmental education is associated with the future development of environmental construction, which is also an important way to enhance citizens’ environmental awareness. Therefore, it can be concluded that it is critically important to implement the education and research on environment awareness of students in primary and high schools.This study uses implicit and explicit two-pronged approach to environmental awareness. The IAT researches the attitude toward environment of 75 students in sixth grade of primary schools and third grade of junior high schools in the desertification-stricken regions. The results show that implicit environmental consciousness is obvious in those primary and middle school students and there is no difference in grade or gender in this respect. Explicit environmental awareness research is conducted by questionnaire and classifies the environmental awareness into three categories: environmental knowledge, environmental attitude, and environmental behavioral tendencies with relevant theories. The research has made Environmental Awareness Scale of Students in Desertification Region and chose a total of 900 subjects in junior and senior high schools and junior technical schools. The survey results are sorted and analyzed statistically and show the characteristics and status quo of the students’ environmental awareness under the variables such as gender, academic stage, nationality, place of residence and parents’ education levels.