Climate Change Adaptation Awareness and Attiutude among Secondary School Biology Teachers and Students in Awka Education Zone of Anambra State

Abstract

The study is on awareness and attitude of biology teachers and students on climate change adaptation. Four research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Relevant literatures were reviewed under three major sub-headings of conceptual framework, theoretical framework and review of empirical studies. This study adopted descriptive survey research design. This study was carried out in Awka education zone of Anambra State. The sample for the study will consist of 464 respondents made up of 68 Biology teachers and 396 SSII Biology students drawn from six (6) public secondary schools in Awka education zones in Anambra State. First, simple random sampling technique (balloting with replacement) will be used to select one education zones (Awka, education zones) out of the six education zones in Anambra State. Also, purposive sampling technique was used to sample two LGAs out of the five LGAs in Awka Education Zone. The choice of the two LGAs is because they are among the areas that were adversely affected during the 2012\2015 flooding incidence in Anambra State. Two instruments were used for data collection in this study namely: Climate Change Adaptation Awareness Questionnaire (CCAAQ), and Attitude to Climate Change Adaptation Questionnaire (ACCQ). The instruments were administered to 20 respondents in a school outside the study area but have similar characteristics with the study area. The scores obtained from the trial testing was used to determine the internal consistency reliability of the instrument using Cronbach Alpha Formula and they yielded internal consistency reliability index of .96 and .97 respectively for the two instruments. This indicated that the items in the instrument are reliable. The data collected from the research questions were analysed using mean and standard deviation, while then null hypotheses were analysed using t-test at 0.05 level of significance (P<0.05). Results of the study showed that biology teachers and students have low awareness level on climate change adaptation. Biology teachers and students have poor attitude towards climate change adaptation. Biology teachers and students in rural and urban areas have low awareness of climate change adaptation, although those in urban area had higher mean rating/ there was no significant difference in the mean rating of biology teachers and students on awareness of climate change adaptation by school location. Lastly, biology teachers and students in rural and urban senior secondary biology students had low attitude towards climate change adaptation/ there was no significant on difference in the mean rating of biology teachers and students on attitude towards climate change adaptation by school location