EXAMINING ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Environmental awareness has become perhaps one of the most widely used terms today. But how do young people relate to it? Our research hypotheses examined the opinions and attitudes of students at the Budapest Metropolitan University when they were first introduced to the concept of environmental awareness, when they first learned about it, how important they consider environmental protection to be in today's world, and to what extent environmental problems affect people's health. In our research, we formulated three hypotheses, tested by a questionnaire as a primary research method. The research results were analysed using Pearson's chi-squared test and variance analysis as statistical methods to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the expected frequencies and the observed frequencies in one or more categories. The results show that the majority of students (85.19%) had heard about environmental awareness before starting secondary school and that 83.61% of them had learned about the importance of renewable energy, environmental awareness or environmental protection in Biology and/or Geography classes. We also analysed the correct or incorrect handling of certain types of waste (e.g., plastic, takeaway paper cups, used tissues and napkins, yoghurt and sour cream cups, styrofoam, broken mirrors etc.). The research highlighted the types of waste for which some significant differences were found. For example, there was a significant difference in the treatment of plastic cup tops, which means that those who have learned about renewable energy, environmental awareness, or environmental protection in Biology and/or Geography classes are more likely to treat cup tops correctly as waste.