Chemistry teachers’ awareness and knowledge of green chemistry concept and its principles based on their professional qualification: a case study of Akwa Ibom State
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Date
2019
Authors
Owoyemi, T. E
Felicia, I. U
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Science Teachers' Association of Nigeria
Abstract
Green chemistry (GC), also known as sustainable chemistry is fundamentally a new approach to environmental protection, transitioning away from managing materials containing toxic chemicals at the end of a product’s life cycle to reducing or eliminating the use of toxic chemicals altogether. Green chemistry has now been around for two decades, and it has been making a real difference in the developed countries like USA while its awareness and importance in addressing environmental issues in developing countries like Nigeria is yet to be explored. Therefore, this study investigated the level of awareness and knowledge of the concept and principles of Green Chemistry among secondary school chemistry teachers. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. It was a descriptive survey research with 100 chemistry teachers randomly selected from 210 chemistry teachers in the three senatorial districts of Akwa Ibom as the study sample. Research instrument: Green Chemistry Achievement Test with a reliability index of .82 was used in collecting relevant information for the study. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive and independent t-test statistics. The results indicated a very low level of awareness and knowledge of the concept, principles and significance of Green chemistry among secondary school chemistry teachers regardless of their professional qualification. Also, there was no significant difference in teachers’ knowledge based on their professional qualification. Consequently, it is recommended that capacity building programme should be put in place through workshops/serminar and short-term training both at home and abroad for service chemistry teachers and educators at higher institutions to equip them with relevant knowledge and raise their awareness to a level where by they will be able to transfer the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour that always consider the safety of the environment to their students.
Description
Staff publications
Keywords
chemistry teacher , Knowledge , Awareness , Green Chemistry , professional qualification , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Education
Citation
Owoyemi, T.E. & Umanah F.I. (2019). Chemistry teachers’ awareness and knowledge of green chemistry concept and its principles based on their professional qualification: a case study of Akwa Ibom State