Application of an Instrument for the Diagnosis of Knowledge and Awareness of Climate Change: A Case Study with Adolescents in Spain

Abstract

Environmental awareness is a widely debated topic. This awareness is a general philosophy, an attitude towards life, which has gained particular importance in recent years, when the scientific community has shown that anthropogenic action has a direct and negative impact on the environment. This preliminary study aims to develop a valid and reliable instrument to diagnose knowledge and awareness of the environment and climate change. The ad hoc instrument consists of 41 items grouped into five factors elaborated from the literature review in the state of the art phase. Following an ex post facto design with an empirical-analytical perspective, it was applied to a sample (n = 99) of students representative by gender and modalities of 1st year of Bachillerato, obtaining a reliability of 0.9106 calculated by Cronbach’s test. In addition to having created  a reliable instrument, its application reveals the degree of ignorance of different factors, especially environmental factors from a humanistic-social perspective and sustainable habits. This leads us to the conclusion that some elements are not working in the way climate change is communicated in the current Spanish educational context.