Examining the Change in Secondary School Students' Awareness of Global Climate Change

Educational institutions play a vital role in fostering effective, informed citizens who are knowledgeable about national and global issues. Social studies is a program that aims to fulfil this role. This study examines changes in secondary school students’ awareness of global climate change in the context of social responsibility activities. In this context, social studies teacher candidates were given training on social responsibility and global climate change; activities were designed and social responsibility initiatives were carried out collaboratively by the faculty and the school. This mixedmethods study employs a concurrent nested design. This design emphasizes qualitative studies. In this study, conducted in Izmir province with 27 secondary school students and 10 social studies teacher candidates, the scale was administered experimentally only to the secondary school students in a pre- and post-test format and analysed using SPSS. For the qualitative component, data obtained from all participants through interviews, open-ended questionnaires, worksheets, observations, and focus group interviews were analysed using descriptive and content analyses. The results indicate that the events have significantly increased global awareness of climate change. It appears that awareness has improved not only among the secondary school students but also among the teacher candidates. It is recommended that similar studies be conducted within the framework of faculty school collaboration to support quality teacher training and effective citizenship education.