Abstract
M.Ed.
Because of the current curriculum developments, it is important that universities begin
assessing their status regarding environmental education. This study will therefore aim
at determining the current level of environmental awareness of third year pre-service
teacher trainees at Vista University in order to make recommendations as to what an
environmental education course should contain for the pre-service teacher trainees of
this institution.
Vista University consists of seven campuses, each accessible to the areas they serve.
The different campuses are:
Bloemfontein Campus outside Bloemfontein,
East Rand Campus near Daveyton on the East Rand,
Mamelodi Campus near Silverton in Pretoria East,
Port Elizabeth Campus outside Port Elizabeth,
Sebokeng Campus near Vereeniging,
Soweto Campus in Soweto, and
Welkom Campus outside Welkom.
Vista University also provides Distance Education, the campus of which is situated in
Pretoria. The university's Head Office is situated in Pretoria.
This study will limit itself to two campuses within Gauteng, namely
East Rand Campus, and
Mamelodi Campus,
AIMS OF THE STUDY
As already mentioned, this survey will be conducted amongst the third year education
students on each of the above-mentioned campuses.
In order to assess the current status of environmental literacy at Vista University, this
study will aim at the following:
•
to set up a questionnaire to measure the four stages of environmental literacy
as set out by Roth (1992: 18 - 19);
to undertake the survey amongst the third year education students of the East
Rand and Mamelodi Campuses;
to analyse and evaluate the data in order to determine the level of environmental
awareness of the target group;
to generalise the result of the sample to the population;
to make suggestions as to what information needs to be included in an
environmental education course for pre-service teacher trainees at Vista University