A Survey of Pre-service Elementary Teachers' Perceptions, Attitudes and Practical Intention toward Sustainable Development

초등 예비교사들의 지속가능 발전에 대한 인식, 태도 및 실천 의지에 대한 조사 연구

The purpose of this study was to examine the pre-service elementary teachers' perceptions and attitudes toward sustainable development. Subjects were 152 university students, who were surveyed by questionnaire. The instrument consisted of totally 41 items which were constructed by 3 components; 'the perception of concept of sustainable development', 'the attitude toward the relationship between economy and environment' and 'the practical intention of personal change for sustainable lifestyle'. The key findings suggest that most students associate strongly the concepts of sustainable development with their environmental as against economic and social aspect. Most of them incline toward eco-centrism but they had complex attitudes concerning the relationship between economy and environment. They have intention to act for sustainable lifestyle such as purchasing habits, recycling, energy water saving, forms of transportation, nature conservation and education. However, they prefer to act passively than actively in a certain aspect of sustainable lifestyle. Understanding of pre-service elementary teachers' perceptions of and attitudes toward sustainable development will be helpful to work out teaching and learning strategies in environmental education.