The Effect of Nature Education Program on the Level of Environmental Awareness of the Elementary School Students from Different Socioeconomic Status

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the nature education program on the environmental awareness levels of the elementary school students from different socioeconomic status. The study is designed in a concurrent nested mixed method. Pretest-posttest quasi-experimental model for quantitative data and case study model for qualitative data were used in accord with this research design. The study group consists of 78 students determined by the proportional cluster sampling method among 4th grade students in the Konya province center during 2016-2017 education years that participated in the education class in Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden, and also voluntarily participated in the research. TURKSTAT data, teachers, student information forms and voluntary participation were taken into consideration while determining the study group. The data of the study were collected with the 35-item Elementary School Environment Awareness Scale developed for the research project. In the analysis of the quantitative data, significance tests were applied, and qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis.