The Impact of Education on Environmental Attitudes
| dc.contributor.author | Entesa Ali Al Menhali | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-11-30T07:53:56Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-08-20T10:57:32Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-11-30T07:53:56Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-08-20T10:57:32Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019 | |
| dc.description | In line with sustainable development, the Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 has emphasized the significance of combining education and sustainability in tackling global environmental issues. Environmentally conscious leaders and public would bring UAE closer to the realization of Abu Dhabi Vision 2030. With the incorporation of environmental education into the national curriculum, the development of environmental policies for a green higher education system has gained increasing attention in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This environmental commitment has propelled the development of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) or also known as Education for Sustainability (EfS). Students discover both global and local environmental issues and gain in-depth environmental knowledge through education. It is anticipated that the future generations of the UAE, particularly leaders, possess environmental attitudes in realizing environmental sustainability. However, there are certain issues and challenges in incorporating EfS into the higher education system (Sutton & Gyuris, 2015). Besides that, most studies emphasized on the overall 2 framework and implementation of EfS (Fernández-Sánchez et al., 2014), such as the measurement of environmental attitudes among students (e.g., Abramovich & Loria, 2015; Young, et al., 2015). On the other hand, studies on the effects of EfS towards environmental attitudes among these students remain inadequate; thus, the lack of understanding | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The term “environmental attitudes” reflects one’s propensity (of either favorable or unfavorable) towards a given environmental cause in terms of beliefs or perceived values. Studies on environmental attitudes have gained numerous criticisms for not being theoretical exhaustive. Addressing that, this study systematically developed a comprehensive measurement model that addresses the multidimensionality of environmental attitudes. This study specifically assessed the validity and internal consistency of the proposed measurement model of environmental attitudes within the context of education for sustainability (EfS) using SEM-AMOS. This study also evaluated the utility of the proposed measurement model through the testing of measurement invariance across genders, nationalities, and courses among the undergraduates in Abu Dhabi. With respect to these specific objectives, this study successfully sampled 130 respondents using an online-based questionnaire survey. The instrument used in this study was adapted from the original items of Environmental Attitudes Inventory (EAI) (Milfont & Duckitt, 2010), with the considerations on both preservation and utilization as the higher-order dimensions of environmental attitudes. Following the analysis, the obtained results revealed a refined seven-factor model of EAI with 21 items, in which iv both convergent validity and discriminant validity were validated. The environmental attitudes demonstrated multidimensionality hierarchically, as demonstrated by the obtained results of the first-order, second-order, and the third-order models. Besides that, this study also found that the undergraduates of science and technology courses, compared to the social science courses, demonstrated higher propensity to preserve the environment. Conclusively, this study systematically explored the horizontal and vertical structures of environmental attitudes in the development of the proposed measurement model to assess the environmental attitudes. Nonetheless, this study revealed that pro environmental attitudes undergraduate students tend to be limited to certain group within the context of EfS, thus would incline to constrain the resolution of environmental problems. Thirdly, The confirmation of the relevance of human and perceived environmental threat according to culture-specific perspective in the formation and determination of environmental attitudes | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Al Menhali, E. A. (2019). The Impact of Education on Environmental Attitudes (Doctoral dissertation, Abu Dhabi University). | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://edms.wexl.in/handle/1/1839 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Abu Dhabi University | en_US |
| dc.subject | Environment attitudes | en_US |
| dc.subject | Preservation | en_US |
| dc.subject | Utilization | en_US |
| dc.subject | Education for sustainability | en_US |
| dc.subject | Undergraduates | en_US |
| dc.title | The Impact of Education on Environmental Attitudes | en_US |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en_US |