IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i11p4757-d1661706.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Developing Secondary School Students’ Sustainable Living Awareness to Help Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

Author

Listed:
  • Aslı Koçulu

    (Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Faculty of Education, Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul 34165, Türkiye)

Abstract

In today’s world, there are numerous challenges all over the world because of human lifestyles. Therefore, raising awareness of sustainable living is crucial to developing ways for everyone to live better while meeting both present and future generations’ environmental, social, and economic needs. In this context, the aim of the current research was to investigate the effects of the learn–think–act-based Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDG) program on secondary school students’ sustainable living awareness. A single-group pre- and post-test model was used in this research. The research group consisted of 34 seventh-grade students enrolled in the “Environmental Education and Climate Change” elective course at a public school in Istanbul, Türkiye. The data were collected using the Sustainable Living Awareness Scale (SLAS). A paired-sample test was used for data analysis. The findings show that there were statistically significant differences between the pre- and post-test total and sub-factor scores of the secondary school students’ sustainable living awareness, with the post-test scores being higher. In other words, the results show that learn–think–act-based ESDG can be an effective way to develop students’ sustainable living awareness.

Suggested Citation

  • Aslı Koçulu, 2025. "Developing Secondary School Students’ Sustainable Living Awareness to Help Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:11:p:4757-:d:1661706
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/11/4757/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/11/4757/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andreja Istenic Starcic & Maja Terlevic & Lin Lin & Maja Lebenicnik, 2018. "Designing Learning for Sustainable Development: Digital Practices as Boundary Crossers and Predictors of Sustainable Lifestyles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Liana Badea & George Laurențiu Șerban-Oprescu & Silvia Dedu & Grigore Ioan Piroșcă, 2020. "The Impact of Education for Sustainable Development on Romanian Economics and Business Students’ Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Jelle Boeve-de Pauw & Niklas Gericke & Daniel Olsson & Teresa Berglund, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-25, November.
    4. Alfonso Piscitelli & Angela Maria D’Uggento, 2022. "Do young people really engage in sustainable behaviors in their lifestyles?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 1467-1485, October.
    5. Xabier Villanueva & José Domingo Villarroel & Alvaro Antón, 2018. "Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-10, July.
    6. Klas Andersson & Sverker C Jagers & Annika Lindskog & Johan Martinsson, 2013. "Learning for the Future? Effects of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) on Teacher Education Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(12), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Anastazija Dimitrova & Antonín Vaishar & Milada Šťastná, 2021. "Preparedness of Young People for a Sustainable Lifestyle: Awareness and Willingness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-20, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eva-Maria Waltner & Werner Rieß & Antje Brock, 2018. "Development of an ESD Indicator for Teacher Training and the National Monitoring for ESD Implementation in Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Carola Garrecht & Till Bruckermann & Ute Harms, 2018. "Students’ Decision-Making in Education for Sustainability-Related Extracurricular Activities—A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Birgitta Nordén & Helen Avery, 2021. "Global Learning for Sustainable Development: A Historical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-31, March.
    4. Julius Grund & Antje Brock, 2019. "Why We Should Empty Pandora’s Box to Create a Sustainable Future: Hope, Sustainability and Its Implications for Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Noorita Mohammad & Basri Badyalina & Shahira Ariffin & Nani Ilyana Syafie & Intan Syafinas Mat Shafie & Khamisah Abd Manaf, 2024. "Young People's Involvement in Reused Cooking Oil," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 16(2), pages 19-27.
    6. Chen, Liang & Guo, Yirong, 2023. "The drivers of sustainable development: Natural resources extraction and education for low-middle- and high-income countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    7. Shaikha R. Al-Nuaimi & Sami G. Al-Ghamdi, 2022. "Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Sustainability Aspects among Higher Education Students in Qatar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Eva-Maria Waltner & Werner Rieß & Christoph Mischo, 2019. "Development and Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Student Sustainability Competencies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Jianping Huang & Yuheng Tao & Minghong Shi & Jun Wu, 2022. "Empirical Study on Design Trend of Taiwan (1960s–2020): The Evolution of Theme, Diversity and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Julia Morgan & Casey Canfield, 2021. "Comparing Behavioral Theories to Predict Consumer Interest to Participate in Energy Sharing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-17, July.
    11. Kevin Handtke & Lisa Richter-Beuschel & Susanne Bögeholz, 2022. "Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Teaching ESD: A Theory-Driven Instrument and the Effectiveness of ESD in German Teacher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-32, May.
    12. Daniela M. Salvioni & Simona Franzoni & Raffaella Cassano, 2017. "Sustainability in the Higher Education System: An Opportunity to Improve Quality and Image," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-27, May.
    13. Lorenz Probst, 2022. "Higher Education for Sustainability: A Critical Review of the Empirical Evidence 2013–2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-24, March.
    14. Yi-Chen Lai & Li-Hsun Peng, 2019. "Effective Teaching and Activities of Excellent Teachers for the Sustainable Development of Higher Design Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, December.
    15. Marit Kristine List & Fabian T. C. Schmidt & Daria Mundt & Dennis Föste-Eggers, 2020. "Still Green at Fifteen? Investigating Environmental Awareness of the PISA 2015 Population: Cross-National Differences and Correlates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-20, April.
    16. Nina Kolleck & Helge Jörgens & Mareike Well, 2017. "Levels of Governance in Policy Innovation Cycles in Community Education: The Cases of Education for Sustainable Development and Climate Change Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-16, October.
    17. Alba Manresa & Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent & Úrsula Faura-Martínez & Juan-Vicente Llinares-Ciscar, 2021. "What Do Freshmen Know about Sustainability? Analysing the Skill Gap among University Business Administration Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    18. Johanna Lochner & Marco Rieckmann & Marcel Robischon, 2021. "(Un)expected Learning Outcomes of Virtual School Garden Exchanges in the Field of Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-25, May.
    19. Bogdan Fleaca & Elena Fleaca & Sanda Maiduc, 2023. "Framing Teaching for Sustainability in the Case of Business Engineering Education: Process-Centric Models and Good Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, January.
    20. Francisco Javier Robles Moral & Manuel Fernández Díaz, 2021. "Future Primary School Teachers’ Digital Competence in Teaching Science through the Use of Social Media," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:11:p:4757-:d:1661706. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.