Environmental Education Research, Vol. 9, No.

1, 2003

Lebanese Secondary School Students’

Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes

MAHA HAIDAR MAKKI American University of Beirut, Lebanon

FOUAD ABD-EL-KHALICK University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

SAOUMA BOUJAOUDE American University of Beirut, Lebanon

SUMMARY This study aimed to (a) assess Lebanese secondary school students’ environ-
mental knowledge and attitudes, and (b) explore the relationship between participants’
knowledge and attitudes, biographical and academic variables, and commitment to
environmental friendly behavior. Participants were 660 grade 10 and grade 11 students.
They were administered a questionnaire to assess their environmental knowledge,
attitudes, beliefs, affect, and intentions, and commitment to environmental friendly
behaviors. Results showed that participants had favorable attitudes toward the environ-
ment but lacked in their environmental knowledge. Environmental knowledge was
significantly related to parental education level, and to participants’ environmental
attitude, beliefs, affect, and behavioral commitments. These correlations, however, were
low (r ⫽ .17 to .33) indicating a definite but rather small relationship between these
variables. By comparison, participants’ scores on the behavior subscale were significantly
and substantially correlated with their environmental affect (r ⫽ .45) and intentions
(r ⫽ .46) suggesting that environmental intentions and affect might serve as good
predictors of commitment to environmental friendly behavior.

Introduction
Humans continue to engage environmental unfriendly behaviors at the individ-
ual, corporate, governmental, and societal levels. These behaviors contributed,
and continue to contribute, to the creation and exacerbation of several environ-
mental problems that might pose serious threats to the wellbeing of humans and
all living species (Gore, 1993). Environmental education is crucially needed to
prepare environmentally literate students who, as future citizens, would play an
active role in protecting the environment through making informed decisions
and taking environmental friendly actions (UNESCO–UNEP, 1991). The process
of environmental education, however, is complex and aims to attain several

ISSN 1350-4622 print; 1469-5871 online/03/010021-13  2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/1350462032000034340
22 M. H. Makki et al.

goals at the affective, cognitive, metacognitive, and behavioral levels (Sanera,

1998). For sure, an ultimate goal of this process remains to influence students’
decisions and behaviors. The theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975)
contends that behavior is determined by behavioral intentions, which are
influenced by beliefs, attitudes, and social pressures. Research also indicates that
ecological behavioral intentions are correlated with environmental knowledge
(Kaiser, 1996). It follows that environmental decisions and behaviors are
influenced by environmental knowledge and attitudes. As such, from a theoreti-
cal standpoint, assessing student environmental knowledge and attitudes, and
understanding the relationship between these aspects and environmental deci-
sions and behaviors are necessary first steps in realizing the goals of viable
environmental education (Dillon & Gayford, 1997).
As Lebanon strives to achieve sustainable economic and social development,
it faces several environmental challenges, such as water and air pollution, solid
waste management, and soil degradation. Uninformed environmental decisions
and behaviors could be very costly at the ecological, economic, and social levels.
To cope with this state of affairs, environmental education was introduced in
1997 for the first time into the Lebanese general education curriculum with the
aim of preparing ‘an environmentally literate generation’ (National Center for
Educational Research and Development [NCERD], 1997–98). An environmental
education component was integrated into selected topics within subject areas
such as life sciences, physics, biology, chemistry, and social studies. This new
curriculum, however, was developed without any solid research regarding
Lebanese students’ environmental knowledge and attitudes. Thus, from a prac-
tical standpoint, an assessment of these aspects can inform classroom instruction
through establishing a baseline of student knowledge and attitudes. Moreover,
such a baseline could later be used to gauge the effectiveness of the Lebanese
environmental curriculum for purposes of refinement and improvement.
No research is currently available on Lebanese students’ environmental
knowledge and attitudes. Research done in other countries (e.g. Gambro &
Switzky, 1992, 1994, 1999; Kuhlemeier et al., 1999; Vlahov & Treagust, 1988)
indicated that young adults do not possess adequate environmental knowledge,
and that such knowledge was significantly related to students’ gender and
parental level of education. By comparison, students’ environmental attitudes
were found to be mostly favorable. Additionally, while the importance of
attitudes and values in determining behavior toward the environment is widely
recognized, the relationship between such attitudes and values, and knowledge
and understanding of environmental issues is less well understood (Dillon &
Gayford, 1997).

Purpose
This study aimed to assess secondary school students’ environmental knowledge
and attitudes in the Greater Beirut area, Lebanon. The study also explored the
relationship between participants’ knowledge and attitudes and (a) biographical
and academic variables, and (b) commitment to environmental friendly behav-
ior. The following questions guided the study:
 Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes 23

1. What are Lebanese high school students’ environmental knowledge and

attitudes?
2. Are Lebanese high school students’ environmental knowledge and attitudes
related to biographical and academic variables including student gender,
grade level (grade 10 vs. grade 11), and high school stream (‘Scientific’ vs.
‘Humanities’), and parental educational level? It should be noted that stu-
dents in the second secondary grade (grade 11) could choose one of two
streams: the Humanities stream, which emphasizes languages and the social
sciences, or the Scientific stream, which emphasizes science and mathematics.
3. Are Lebanese high school students’ environmental attitudes related to their
knowledge about the environment?
4. Are Lebanese high school students’ commitment to environmental friendly
behavior related to their beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions?

Method
Participants
Population and sampling procedure. The population for this study included grades
10 and 11 students in secondary schools located in the Greater Beirut area,
Lebanon. All schools in this area having more than 50 students at the secondary
level were included in the population. The 84 schools that satisfied these
selection criteria (according to NCERD, 1997–1998) differed in terms of status
(private or public), type (boys, girls, or coed), and language of science instruc-
tion (English or French). Of the selected schools, 18 are public and 66 are private
institutions. Of the public schools, seven are for boys, seven for girls, and four
coed. Of the private schools, two are for boys, three for girls, and 61 coed.
Additionally, English is the language of science instruction in 52 schools,
whereas French is used in the remaining 32 schools.
Next, proportional stratified sampling (Gall et al., 1996) was used to generate
a 12% sample of the 84 eligible schools. Stratification was based on the schools’
status, type, and language of science instruction. This procedure resulted in a
sample of ten schools distributed into one public school for boys, one public
school for girls, one private school for boys, one private school for girls, and six
coed private schools. In six of these ten schools, English is the language of
science instruction, while French is the language of instruction in the remaining
four schools. Finally, from each of the ten resultant schools, one grade 10 section
and one of each grade 11 Humanities and Scientific sections were randomly
selected. Biographical data, including age, gender, and parental educational
level, were collected from participants.

Participant students. Participants were 660 students, 302 male (45.8%) and 358
female (54.2%). Their ages ranged from 14 to 19 years with an average of 16.5
years (SD ⫽ .9). Of the participants 292 (44.2%) were grade 10, while 368 (55.8%)
were grade 11 students. Of the grade 11 students, 238 (65%) were enrolled in the
Scientific stream and 130 (35%) in the Humanities stream. An almost equal
percentage of participants’ mothers and fathers (about 57%) had attained high
school education or less, while the remaining 43% had had college education.
24 M. H. Makki et al.

Instrument
The researchers compiled a two-part questionnaire to assess participants’ en-
vironmental knowledge and attitudes. Most of the questionnaire items were
adapted from previously published instruments (Eyers, 1976; Kliauga, 1993;
Leeming et al., 1995) and a few were developed for the specific purpose of this
study. The reason for not adopting any particular instrument was that the
available instruments were developed for countries with environmental con-
cerns that were sometimes markedly different from ones currently assigned
priority in Lebanon. The questionnaire topics were chosen to align it with
environmental topics addressed in the new Lebanese curriculum.

Part I: Assessing Environmental Knowledge. Part I of the questionnaire comprises

34 multiple-choice items. Each item presents the respondent with four choices,
one of which is considered to be ‘correct.’ For example, item #11 asks respon-
dents, ‘What is the main problem with using aquifers as a water supply?’
Respondents are provided the four following choices: ‘They are renewed too
quickly’; ‘They are being used up’; ‘They contain too much salt water’; and ‘It
is hard to get to the water’. It should be noted that the questionnaire is by no
means an achievement test in the sense of assessing students’ mastery of specific
environmental objectives addressed in the Lebanese environmental curriculum
for grades 10 and 11. Rather, the items were chosen to assess participants’
knowledge of general environmental topics included in the Lebanese curriculum
and/or dealt with in the media. These topics included pollution (9 items), solid
waste disposal and recycling (7 items), energy issues (6 items), water quality and
quantity (4 items), soil degradation (3 items), animals (3 items), and general
issues (2 items).
Twelve of the questionnaire items (1–7 and 9–13) were adapted from the
Children’s Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale (CHEAKS). The
CHEAKS was developed and validated by Leeming et al. (1995). It aims to assess
elementary and middle school students’ environmental knowledge and atti-
tudes. Nine other items (15–18 and 20–24) were adapted from a questionnaire
developed by Eyers (1976) to assess the environmental knowledge and beliefs of
grade 10 students in Australia. Ten additional items (25–34) were adapted from
a questionnaire developed by the Institute/Bureau of Chemistry and Environ-
mental Studies (Kliauga, 1993). Some of the items derived from these aforemen-
tioned instruments were modified to fit the Lebanese context. The three
remaining items (8, 14, and 19), which relate to soil degradation, were developed
by the researchers.

Part II: Assessing Environmental Attitudes. Part II of the questionnaire comprises

28 four-point Likert-type items (strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly
disagree), which aim to assess attitudes based on Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1975)
theory. In particular, the items assess respondents’ beliefs (1–7), affect (8–14),
and behavioral intentions (15–21) toward the environment. The remaining items
aim to assess participants’ commitment to environmental friendly behaviors
(22–28). Items 1, 2, 6, and 7 were taken from the questionnaire developed by
Eyers (1976) whereas items 3, 4, and 5 were developed by the researchers. All
remaining items were adopted from the CHEAKS (Leeming et al., 1995). The
following are examples of these items:
 Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes 25

1. Beliefs: ‘Controls should be placed on industry so as to protect the environ-

ment, even if this means things will cost more.’
2. Affect: ‘It upsets me when I see people use too much water.’
3. Behavioral intentions: ‘I would be willing to ride the bus to more places in
order to reduce air pollution.’
4. Commitment to environmental friendly behaviors: ‘To save energy, I turn off
lights at home when they are not in use.’

Establishing the content validity of the questionnaire. Three experts in the field of
science education examined an initial version of the questionnaire regarding: (a)
the adequacy of the environmental topics elicited in the questionnaire in terms
of their developmental appropriateness, parallelism with the Lebanese curricu-
lum, and representativeness of the most important environmental issues in
Lebanon; and (b) the accuracy of the multiple-choice item stems and appropri-
ateness of the distracters. The reviewers had several comments and suggestions
for improvement. The items were modified accordingly resulting in a revised
version of the questionnaire. Additionally, given that French is the language of
instruction in some of the participant schools, the revised version of the
questionnaire, initially developed in English, was translated into French. After
translation, an expert revised the French version to insure its alignment with the
English version.
Pilot-testing and internal consistency. The revised English and French versions of
the questionnaire were administered to two first secondary classes: one English
section (25 students) and one French section (15 students). After completing the
questionnaire, students were asked to comment on any difficulties they faced or
ambiguities they encountered when responding to the items. Respondents made
several comments regarding difficult terminology, unfamiliar items, and am-
biguous questions. The questionnaire items were modified to address student
comments, resulting in a final version of the questionnaire. The final version,
which was administered to all participants, had a moderately high internal
consistency. The value of alpha Cronbach for Part I of the questionnaire was .71
and that for Part II was .78.
Scoring the questionnaire. Part I of the questionnaire was scored by assigning one
point to each correct answer. As such, knowledge scores ranged from 0 to 34
points. Part II was scored by assigning 4 points to the most pro-environmental
response to each item. For statements representing a positive attitude toward the
environment, 4 points were assigned to ‘strongly agree’, 3 to ‘agree’, 2 to
‘disagree’, and 1 to ‘strongly disagree’. As for statements representing a negative
attitude toward the environment, the scoring was reversed. Thus, the minimum
possible score on the attitude section of the questionnaire was 28 and the
maximum 112 points.

Procedure
The first author visited each of the participant schools and secured permission
for administering the questionnaire. In each classroom, she informed partici-
pants about the purpose of the questionnaire and procedure for completing it,
explained that the items in Part II relate to personal attitudes and do not have
26 M. H. Makki et al.

one ‘correct’ answer, explicitly assured students that the questionnaire was not
a quiz, and supervised the administration and completion of the questionnaire.
Participants completed the questionnaire individually and were not permitted to
consult their science textbooks or other references. However, they were allowed
to ask questions of the researcher regarding the questionnaire items.

Data Analysis
The questionnaires were coded and items were entered into the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 7.0). Participants’ scores on Part I
(knowledge), Part II (attitudes), knowledge subtopics (pollution, recycling, en-
ergy, water, soil, animals, and general), and attitude subscales (beliefs, affect,
behavioral intentions, and commitment to behavior) were computed. Next, all
scores were converted to percentages to allow for conducting meaningful
comparisons and facilitate the interpretation of results.
Statistical analyses were conducted to answer the questions of interest. First,
given that parametric tests were used to analyze the data, analyses started by
using the Levene statistic to inspect whether the major assumption of homogene-
ity of variances was violated (Green et al., 1997). The computed Levene statistic
for total knowledge (F ⫽ 1.584, df ⫽ 16/625, p ⬎ .05) and total attitude (F ⫽ 1.354,
df ⫽ 16/625, p ⬎ .05) scores indicated that this latter assumption was not vio-
lated. Similar results were obtained for knowledge and attitude subscale scores.
Second, to assess participants’ environmental knowledge and attitudes, descrip-
tive statistics were generated for participants’ knowledge and attitudes scores, as
well as their scores on the knowledge subtopics and attitude subscales. Third, to
assess whether participants’ environmental knowledge and attitudes were re-
lated to their gender, grade level (grade 10 vs. grade 11), and high school stream
(Humanities versus Scientific), appropriate mean scores were computed and
compared using independent sample t-tests. Sixty such comparisons were con-
ducted. To guard against the accumulation of error resulting from multiple
comparisons, the statistical significance level was set at the .01 level (instead of
.05). To assess whether participants’ environmental knowledge and attitudes
were related to parental educational level (less than high school, high school,
bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, or Doctorate), appropriate mean scores were
computed and compared using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). If the
overall F test was significant, post hoc comparisons using the conservative Tukey
procedure were to be conducted to evaluate pairwise differences. Finally, a
correlational matrix was generated to assess whether participants’ environmen-
tal knowledge (total and subscales) were related to their environmental attitudes
(total and subscales) and commitment to environmental friendly behaviors.

Results
Environmental Knowledge
Table 1 presents the total knowledge and subtopics mean scores (M) and
standard deviations (SD) for participant grades (grade 10 and grade 11) and high
school streams (Humanities and Scientific sections of grade 11). The mean total
knowledge scores, which range from 53.74 to 56.31 percentage points, reflect less
 Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes 27

TABLE 1. Total knowledge and subtopics mean scores for participant grade levels and
high school streams

Grade 11

Grade 10 Scientific Humanities

n ⫽ 292 n ⫽ 238 n ⫽ 130
Environmental
knowledge M SD M SD M SD

Total 53.74 14.89 56.31 14.08 53.82 13.66

Subtopics
Pollution 54.23 19.66 55.84 19.11 51.53 20.12
Recycling 41.59 18.92 46.34 18.76 46.38 17.68
Energy 67.86 22.43 66.81 21.04 69.87 20.56
Water 49.23 27.21 53.78 26.81 52.11 28.02
Animals 66.10 31.70 65.69 30.23 62.06 32.09
Soil 36.41 29.80 45.52 31.17 33.84 25.24
General 68.15 34.62 69.12 32.19 63.08 35.52

than adequate environmental knowledge. This is especially the case given that
the questionnaire assessed participants’ knowledge of basic environmental con-
cepts relating to broad topics, which were relevant to participants’ everyday
lives. In this regard, it should be noted that the questionnaire items were put in
relatively simple and straightforward, as compared to specialized or technical,
language. Participants’ knowledge of the target environmental topics was
equally lacking. In particular, participants’ mean scores on issues related to
recycling (M ranging from 41.59 to 46.38) and soil degradation (M ranging from
33.84 to 45.52) indicate severely limited knowledge of these environmental
topics. By comparison, participants’ mean scores were relatively higher on issues
related to animals and energy. Nonetheless, these mean scores, which ranged
from 62.06 to 69.87, could not be taken to represent adequate knowledge of these
topics. Finally, the relatively large standard deviations represent a noteworthy
aspect of the results shown in Table 1. These deviations, which ranged from
17.68 to 35.52 points, indicate that the total and topical knowledge scores were
widely spread. Such spread indicates that participants’ environmental knowl-
edge was disparate. In other words, participants lacked a common knowledge
base of the target environmental concepts and related issues.

Environmental Attitudes
Table 2 presents the total attitude and subscale mean scores and standard
deviations for participant grades and high school streams. The relatively high
total attitude mean scores, which range from 76.25 to 77.73 out of 100 points,
indicate that participants’ attitudes toward the environment were favorable.
Moreover, participants’ scores on the affect subscale (M ranging from 83.21 to
84.36) were relatively higher than their scores on the beliefs, intentions, and
behavior subscales. Additionally, relative to what was observed in the case of
knowledge scores, the standard deviations of the total and subscale attitude
scores shown in Table 2 are relatively small. These deviations, which range from
8.19 to 13.13 points, indicate that participants’ attitudes toward the environment
28 M. H. Makki et al.

TABLE 2. Total attitudes and subscales mean scores for participant grade levels and high
school streams

Grade 11

Grade 10 Scientific Humanities

n ⫽ 292 n ⫽ 238 n ⫽ 130
Environmental
attitudes M SD M SD M SD

Total 77.57 8.19 77.73 8.94 76.25 8.59

Subscales
Beliefs 75.62 10.22 76.81 11.22 77.08 9.12
Affect 84.22 11.65 84.36 12.11 83.21 10.69
Intentions 71.99 12.97 70.90 12.50 69.49 13.13
Commitment
to behavior 78.43 11.37 78.86 12.42 75.2 13.05

were relatively consistent. As such, participants’ environmental attitudes were

more uniform than their level of environmental knowledge.

Relationship between Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes, and Biographical and

Academic Variables
No significant differences were found between the mean total knowledge scores
of participants in grade 10 and grade 11 (t ⫽ 1.50, df ⫽ 658, p ⬎ .01) or those in the
Scientific and Humanities streams of grade 11 (t ⫽ 1.64, df ⫽ 366, p ⬎ .01). Simi-
larly, with two exceptions, the mean subtopics knowledge scores for grade 10
and grade 11 participants and those in the two streams of grade 11 were not
significantly different (p ⬎ .01). The exceptions were related to participants’ mean
knowledge scores on recycling and soil degradation. First, the mean score of
participants in the Scientific stream of grade 11 on soil degradation (M ⫽ 45.52)
was significantly higher than the corresponding mean scores for grade 10
participants (M ⫽ 36.42, t ⫽ 3.43, df ⫽ 528, p ⬍ .001) and for participants in the
Humanities stream of grade 11 (M ⫽ 33.84, t ⫽ 3.66, df ⫽ 366, p ⬍ .001). Second,
grade 11 Scientific stream participants’ mean score on recycling (M ⫽ 46.34) was
significantly higher than that for grade 10 participants (M ⫽ 41.59, t ⫽ 2.88,
df ⫽ 528, p ⬍ 0.01).
For all participant grades, the mean total knowledge scores for females and
males were not significantly different (t ⫽ .07, df ⫽ 658, p ⬎ .01). This also was the
case in the Scientific stream of grade 11 (t ⫽ .90, df ⫽ 236, p ⬎ .01). However, in
grade 10, females had a significantly higher mean knowledge score than males
(t ⫽ 3.01, df ⫽ 290, p ⬍ .01). The mean difference, which was 5.18 points, is
practically significant if compared to the standard deviations for the male and
female mean scores, which were on the order of 14 points. This result was
reversed in the case of participants in grade 11 Humanities stream, where the
mean knowledge score for males was significantly higher than that for females
(t ⫽ 4.22, df ⫽ 128, p ⬍ .001). The mean difference, which was 10.46 points, is
practically significant given that the standard deviations for the means were
11.78 and 13.26 points.
 Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes 29

As far as attitude scores are concerned, no significant differences were found

between the total and subscale mean attitude scores for participants in grade 10
and grade 11 (t ⫽ .52, df ⫽ 640, p ⬎ .01) as well as for participants in the
Humanities and Scientific streams of grade 11 (t ⫽ 1.53, df ⫽ 359, p ⬎ .01). Simi-
larly, no significant differences were found between the mean total and subscale
attitude scores for males and females in all participant grades (t ⫽ 1.39, df ⫽ 640,
p ⬎ .01), in grade 11 Scientific stream (t ⫽ .19, df ⫽ 232, p ⬎ .01), and in grade 11
Humanities stream (t ⫽ 1.63, df ⫽ 125, p ⬎ .01). In grade 10, however, females
scored significantly higher than males on the attitude scale (t ⫽ 3.90, df ⫽ 279,
p ⬍ .001). The mean total attitude score for females in grade 10 was 3.72 points
higher than that for males. Such difference could be considered practically
significant given that the standard deviations for the male and female mean
attitude scores in grade 10 were 8.08 and 7.90 points respectively.
No significant differences were found between participants’ mean attitude
scores when grouped according to father’s educational level (F ⫽ .558, p ⫽ .69)
and mother’s educational level (F ⫽ 1.94, p ⫽ .10). However, significant differ-
ences were found between participants’ mean knowledge scores in the case of
both father’s educational level (F ⫽ 5.00, p ⫽ .001) and mother’s educational level
(F ⫽ 3.35, p ⫽ .01). Post hoc comparisons using the conservative Tukey procedure
were conducted to evaluate pairwise differences in knowledge among students
of parents’ with different educational levels. Results showed that the mean
knowledge score of students with fathers having Master’s degrees (M ⫽ 60.56)
was significantly higher (p ⬍ .001) than that for students with fathers having ‘less
than high school’ education (M ⫽ 51.72). Additionally, the mean knowledge
score of students with mothers having Bachelor’s degrees (M ⫽ 56.47) was
significantly higher (p ⬍ .01) than that for students with mothers having ‘less
than high school’ education (M ⫽ 50.99). It should be noted that the mean
differences in both of these latter cases (8.84 and 5.48) are practically significant
given that the standard deviations for the means are on the order of 14 points.
Finally, participants were grouped into those with fathers having ‘high school
or less’ education and those having ‘college or higher’ education. The same
grouping was done with the mothers’ educational level. Next, mean knowledge
and attitude scores for these groups were computed and compared using
independent sample t-tests. For attitude scores, no significant differences were
found in the case of father’s educational level (t ⫽ .139, df ⫽ 632, p ⬎ .01) and
mother’s educational level (t ⫽ 2.35, df ⫽ 636, p ⬎ .01). Similarly, no significant
differences were evident for knowledge scores in the case of grouping according
to mother’s educational level (t ⫽ 2.26, df ⫽ 636, p ⬎ .01). However, the mean
knowledge score for participants whose fathers have a ‘college or higher’
education (M ⫽ 56.82) was significantly higher ( ⫹ 3.70 points, t ⫽ 2.27, df ⫽ 632,
p ⬍ .001), than that for participants whose fathers have a ‘high school or less’
education.

Relation between Participants’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Commitment to Environmen-

tal Friendly Behavior
The correlational matrix presented in Table 3 shows correlation coefficients
between total knowledge scores, total attitude scores, and scores for attitude
subscales including beliefs, affect, intentions, and behavior. The matrix was
30 M. H. Makki et al.

TABLE 3. Inter-correlations among total knowledge scores, total attitude scores,

and attitude subscales scores

Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Knowledge —
2. Total Attitude .33** —
3. Beliefs .27** .66** —
4. Affect .30** .75** .46** —
5. Intentions .17** .72** .26** .30** —
6. Behavior .22** .77** .29** .45** .46** —

**p ⬍ .01.

generated to assess whether participants’ environmental knowledge, environ-

mental attitudes, and commitment to environmental friendly behavior were
significantly related.
Participants’ environmental knowledge was significantly related to their en-
vironmental attitudes (r ⫽ .33, p ⬍ .01). Similarly, statistically significant (p ⬍ .01)
correlations were found between environmental knowledge and attitude sub-
scales including beliefs (r ⫽ .27), affect (r ⫽ .30), intentions (r ⫽ .17), and behavior
(r ⫽ .22) scores. However, it should be noted that all of these latter correlations
were low, indicating a definite but very small relationship between participants’
environmental knowledge and their attitude subscales. Indeed, these correla-
tions only explain a very small fraction (3–7%) of the variance in participants’
environmental attitude scores (Connolly & Sluckin, 1957) including their com-
mitment to environmental friendly behaviors.
Table 3 also indicates that participants’ environmental attitudes were
significantly (p ⬍ .01) and highly correlated with their environmental affect
(r ⫽ .75) and intentions (r ⫽ .72), as well as their commitment to environmental
friendly behavior (r ⫽ .77). More importantly, participants’ commitment to en-
vironmental friendly behavior was significantly and moderately correlated with
their environmental affect (r ⫽ .45, p ⬍ .01) and intentions (r ⫽ .46, p ⬍ .01).
These latter two correlation coefficients indicate a substantial relationship
whereby environmental affect and intentions account for about 20% of the
variance in participants’ scores on the behavior subscale (Connolly & Sluckin,
1957). These results suggest that environmental intentions and affect could serve
as good predictors of commitment to environmental friendly behavior.

Discussion and Implications

Consistent with research undertaken in other countries (e.g. Gambro & Switzky,
1994, 1999; Kuhlemeier et al., 1999; Rose & Card, 1985), Lebanese high school
students held relatively uniform and favorable attitudes toward the environ-
ment, but had inadequate knowledge of basic environmental concepts and
issues. Thus, participants seemed willing to take necessary actions to protect the
environment, but lacked the knowledge base necessary to make informed
decisions. Participant grade 10 and 11 students have followed the new Lebanese
environmental curriculum for one and two years respectively. Even though it
might be a bit early to pass a judgment in this regard, the present results support
the tentative conclusion that this curriculum is not being implemented effec-
 Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes 31

tively. This tentative inference is supported by two observations: first, partici-

pants did not show gains in environmental knowledge between grade 10 and
grade 11, even though students in this latter grade are ‘exposed’ to several
additional environmental topics. Second, grade 11 Scientific stream students did
not attain significantly higher knowledge scores than those in the Humanities
stream, even though the former are exposed to more environmental issues and
in greater detail.
However, it seems that countries in which environmental topics have been
taught for extensive periods of time are still graduating students with inad-
equate understandings of environmental topics (Gambro & Switzky, 1999).
Apparently, it is not enough to develop and implement a curriculum in which
environmental education is prominently represented. In this case we might be
succumbing to an ‘improved inputs syndrome’ in which educators falsely
believe that improving inputs will necessarily improve educational outcomes.
Indeed, a curriculum may provide teachers and students with lots of infor-
mation, but present information in ways that do not foster creativity, interest,
and student involvement, resulting in lack of motivation and little meaningful
learning. Moreover, in the Lebanese case, teacher-training activities associated
with the new environmental curriculum tended to be decontextualized and
focused on presenting information about the environment and the nature of
good teaching. Training activities were not connected to what actually happens
in the classroom and lacked the continuous support of experts in the fields of
education and the environment. Specifically, what is needed is not only to
provide Lebanese teachers and students with an appropriate curriculum. Rather,
quality instructional materials, focused training, careful monitoring, and class-
room support during implementation should be furnished as well. With these
latter components missing, Lebanese students will continue to have inadequate
understandings of environmental concepts and issues.
Similar to previous research findings (e.g. Gambro & Switzky, 1994), partici-
pants’ with ‘more educated’ fathers, who consequently enjoy richer home
environments with more access and exposure to scientific and environmental
resources, had significantly higher environmental knowledge scores. The finding
that participants’ knowledge was not related to the mothers’ educational level
could be explained by the fact that in a relatively male-dominated Middle
Eastern Lebanese culture, the household ‘educational tone’ is more likely set by
the father than by the mother. Regarding the relationship between gender and
environmental knowledge and attitudes, prior research findings are generally
inconsistent (see e.g. Eagles & Demare, 1999; Vlahov & Treagust, 1988). The
present finding that grade 10 females had significantly higher knowledge and
attitude scores than males cannot be explained given current research findings.
Consequently, this is an area open for further investigation.
Finally, as with previous research (e.g. Gambro & Switzky, 1994; Kuhlemeier
et al., 1999), the rather low correlations between participants’ environmental
knowledge and attitudes suggest that the effect of knowledge on attitude and
behavior is not direct, but mediated by several factors. In contrast, the moder-
ately high correlations between environmental behavior, intentions, and affect
suggest that the latter could serve as determinants of proper environmental
behavior. These findings support the claims of the theory of reasoned action.
32 M. H. Makki et al.

The next step for related research in Lebanon would be to use more intensive
research tools, such as open-ended questionnaires and individual interviews, to
probe Lebanese students’ environmental attitudes and knowledge in more depth
and identify students’ naı̈ve environmental conceptions. Furthermore, research
efforts should focus on understandings the correlates or precursors of environ-
mental friendly behaviors among students in a country where environmental
education is a relative newcomer.

Notes on Contributors
MAHA HAIDAR MAKKI is a graduate student in science education. She
received her MA in Science Education (2000) and BS in Environmental Science
(1997) from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Her research interests
focus on K-12 students’ environmental knowledge and attitudes, and environ-
mental-related behaviors. Correspondence: Science and Mathematics Education
Center, American University of Beirut, PO Box 11-0236, Bliss Street, Beirut,
Lebanon. E-mail: maha_haidar@hotmail.com

FOUAD ABD-EL-KHALICK is an Assistant Professor of Science Education at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He received his PhD in
Science Education from Oregon State University (1998), and MA in Science
Education (1995) and BS in Biology (1991) from the American University of
Beirut, Lebanon. His research primarily focuses on the teaching and learning of
nature of science in K-12 and preservice and inservice teacher education settings,
the development of learners’ epistemic views, and science teachers’ content and
pedagogical content knowledge. Correspondence: Department of Curriculum &
Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 311 Education Bldg.,
1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, Il 61820, USA. E-mail fouad@uiuc.edu

SAOUMA BOUJAOUDE is Professor of Science Education and Director of the

Science and Mathematics Education Center at the American University of Beirut,
Lebanon. He received his PhD in Science Education (1988) and MA in Education
(1985) from the University of Cincinnati, and BS in Biology/Chemistry (1971)
from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. His research primarily focuses
on students’ alternative conceptions of chemical theory, and science teacher
education programs. Correspondence: Science and Mathematics Education Center,
American University of Beirut, PO Box 11-0236, Bliss Street, Beirut, Lebanon.
E-mail: boujaoud@aub.edu.lb

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