Secondary School Students’ Views on Global Warming

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to investigate middle school 5th – 8th grade students’ views of global warming. The participants of the research consisted of 33 volunteer students studying at 9 public schools in the city center of Mus in the first semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. In this research, a qualitative approach was adopted, and phenomenology design was used as the study design. The data of the research were collected through semi-structured interviews with students. MAXQDA qualitative analysis program and content analysis method was used to evaluate the answers of the students. As a result, most of the participants believed that the causes of global warming are fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution, unconscious consumption. The participants considered the effects of global warming as climate change, drought, disruption of the ecosystem, extinction of some living species, melting of glaciers. The participants made suggestions to prevent global warming such as keep the environment clean, avoid overconsumption, afforestation activities recycling, not using deodorant/to use less, raise awareness with families/friends, caring for all living things, preferring cycling, renewable energy, installing filters on factory chimneys, use of environmentally friendly means of transport, government regulation, protecting nature, renewable energy production, use of public transportation, manufacturing electric cars, activities for raising awareness. Moreover, It was determined that most of the students were worried about this issue, some of them were upset, and some of them were alarmed. In light of all these findings, some suggestions are made.