Primary and secondary school students’ knowledge related to renewable energy and some of its influencing factors

Abstract

Shaping attitude related to renewable energy resources is the task of the entire society and in the case of students of different ages it is realized via education in and outside schools. This research concerns the analysis of the knowledge of students related to renewable energy resources, exploring the differences in the case of students in different grades and also the identification of correlations between the knowledge for renewable energy and some of its influencing factors. The research was carried out in spring 2018 with 4th (N=466) and 7th (N=529) graders in primary school and also with 11th graders (N=328) in secondary school in Hungary. Association and selection tasks applied in the research were related to knowledge of renewable energy resources and three questions concerned influencing factors. Assessment was performed based on the word association test. Results indicate poor and less stable knowledge in the case of every grade. The knowledge structure of the grades is similar, solar, water and wind are the most well-known renewable energy resources. Regarding knowledge, the type of the settlement of residence, education level of parents, school curriculum, textbook, theme weeks, project work, media and internet were important among influencing factors.