EURASIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, cilt.12, sa.46, ss.41-62, 2012 (SSCI)
Problem statement: Contemporary global environmental problems have highlighted the importance of acting responsibly towards natural resources and the environment. The role of science education in shaping how people interact with the environment, therefore, has gained importance. The science education community has responded to this challenge by helping citizens develop responsibility for environmental issues. Accordingly, "scientific literacy and the environment" was one of the research areas in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006. We attempted to examine patterns in Turkish students' environmental responsibility and to expose relationships between student responsibility for environmental issues and socio-demographic variables. We did this by assessing scientific literacy and evaluating an environmental database for Turkey in the context of PISA 2006. Specifically, the current study examined the extent to which Turkish students' economic, social, and cultural status; school activities; parents' sense of responsibility and optimism regarding environmental issues and gender predicted their perceived responsibility towards the environment.