Evaluation of Mountaineering Education and Practices in the Perspective of Connectedness to Nature and Environmental Awareness

Year 2023, , 184 - 196, 25.10.2023

Zafer Doğru , Yetkin Utku Kamuk

https://doi.org/10.33438/ijdshs.1354502

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the theoretical and practical education and practices provided in the "Get in touch with the nature - Live healthy, Protect Your Environment" project in terms of connectedness to nature and environmental awareness. The study group consisted of 46 university students who were members of mountaineering clubs and participated in mountaineering education and practices. In the study, the scale of connectedness to nature adapted by Bektaş et al. (2017) was used. A one-group pretest- posttest design was used. In addition, the answers given to the structured interview questions in the information collection form were evaluated qualitatively. There was a significant difference between pre-test averages and post-test averages in the dimension of being part of the nature (p<.01), suggesting that the education and practices influenced the dimension of being part of the nature, a sub-dimension of attachment to nature. An examination of the averages of the integration with nature sub-dimension and the overall averages of the scale revealed that the post-test scores increased. The results revealed that the scale score averages of the participants were increased at the end of the education period. It was also found that the participants’ reasons for taking part in outdoor activities changed during the course of the study, with “interest” ranking first in the pre-test being replaced by the “desire to be with friends” in the post-test. The results of the present study suggest that the education had an impact on nature connectedness and environmental awareness.

Keywords

Doğaya Bağlılık, Çevre Bilinci, Dağcılık Eğitimi

Project Number

2019-1 Gençlik Projeleri Destekleme Programı, P. No: 34945

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