The promotion of science and social-studies teachers’ cognitive structures regarding zero-waste management

OpenAlex İngilizce

The presented study aimed to examine improvement of teachers’ cognitive structures regarding zero-waste management. Nine social-studies teachers and eleven science teachers, working in primary and secondary public schools, participated in this study. They received a total of 10 wk’ training on zero-waste management through distance learning and conducting their zero-waste projects. During this training, teachers learned the fundamentals of zero-waste management and developed and carried out projects/activities relating to zero-waste management. To determine the effectiveness of the zero-waste instruction on teachers’ cognitive structures, the Zero-Waste Word Association Test, developed by the researchers, was used before and after the instruction. Data were analysed using the cut-off point technique. The results indicated that teachers had more and different valid related words for the stimulus words about zero-waste management, and more connections were also established between stimulus words and related words in the post-test. Based on the results, some suggestions are also presented.