Teaching practice in environmental education and pro-environmental skills in students of fifth grade

Abstract

Faced with current environmental problems, there is a need to promote behavioral changes that influence the protection of the environment. Due to the above, environmental education has become more relevant to the promotion of such behavior, especially at the basic education levels. However, there is the need to know the relationship of teaching practices and behavioral elements associated with pro-environmental behavior in students. In the present article we worked with a sample of random probabilistic of 217 boys and girls of fifth year of primary school, between 10 and 13 years of age, 103 women and 114 men belonging to seven public schools of the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, México. Students were asked to answer a scale about the performance of the teaching staff in relation to the activities of reflection, knowledge, problem solving and techniques aimed at caring for the environment, likewise, they were applied a scale of pro-environmental skills. Among the main findings, we found positive and significant correlations between students' pro-environmental skills and the report of teaching staff activities such as reflection, problem solving, techniques and knowledge. However, the need to establish the predictive capacity of these practices is recognized, as well as to extend the analysis to other factors associated with pro-environmental behaviors such as attitudes, and values.