Microplastics—How and What Do University Students Know about the Emerging Environmental Sustainability Issue?

Svatava Janoušková, Pavel Teplý, David Fatka, Milada Teplá, Tomáš Cajthaml and Tomáš Hák
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Svatava Janoušková: Department of Teaching and Didactics of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 128 02 Prague, Czech Republic
Pavel Teplý: Department of Teaching and Didactics of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 128 02 Prague, Czech Republic
David Fatka: Department of Teaching and Didactics of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 128 02 Prague, Czech Republic
Milada Teplá: Department of Teaching and Didactics of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 128 02 Prague, Czech Republic
Tomáš Cajthaml: Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 128 01 Prague, Czech Republic
Tomáš Hák: Environment Centre, Charles University, 162 00 Prague, Czech Republic

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-16

Abstract: For a successful transition towards sustainability, people need information and knowledge to understand the complex interconnectedness of social, natural, and social-natural systems. In order for people to be able to take a position on a number of environmental and social issues, and make decisions arising from these challenges, they need to use environmental literacy. We have come up with a tool to answer the question of how students access information about new environmental topics in the media, and how they transform it into environmental knowledge. Almost 400 students from seven Czech universities took part in a combined knowledge test and context questionnaire on microplastics (information based on the previous analysis of selected major web media). More than a third of students tested identified mass media as their main source of knowledge. Most students, however, already had some simple partial knowledge about the topic—the level of commonly discussed information that students remember and then just reproduce. Our statistically evaluated results may help teachers improve the quality of their instruction, curriculum, and subsequently students’ achievement and environmental civic competencies. The results present original findings complementing international research on the role of education and mass media in environmental sustainability knowledge.

Keywords: environmental literacy; microplastics; knowledge of microplastics; mass media; environmental sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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