01367812

Component

Transportation-related environmental problems have become increasingly serious in many Chinese cities. Vehicle population has been growing rapidly and vehicle emissions have become the dominant pollution source. This paper is concerned with transportation-related environmental knowledge and attitudes of the youth--the generation who will be affected by and will have to ultimately provide solutions to the environment problems arising from today. The authors conducted questionnaire surveys among over 600 high school students in Dongguan, China to examine their environmental knowledge and attitude. Structural equation models confirm that students’ environmental knowledge positively impacts their environmental attitudes though the impact is limited: only 15% of the variation in attitude is explained by knowledge. The authors further distinguish the transportation-specific knowledge and attitude from the general ones. Analysis of variance identifies significant difference in general vs. transportation-specific knowledge but not between attitudes. To assess the school education’s impact on environmental knowledge and attitude, the authors compare students across the six grades and are disappointed to report that no increases along the grades can be observed in either general or transportation-specific knowledge or attitudes. In fact a trend of decline in attitude is noticeable though not systematic. The high school education does not seem to contribute to students’ environmental knowledge or attitude. This study focuses only on one typical school so the finding cannot be generalized without caution and alternative explanations may exist. But it does suggest either environmental education is not yet part of the curriculum’s objectives or any attempt on this objective has largely failed.

01362476

12-3674

English

21p

2012

Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Attitudes; Environment; High school students; Knowledge; Structural equation modeling; Surveys

China

Environment; Transportation (General); I15: Environment

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2012 Paper #12-3674

TRIS, TRB

Feb 8 2012 5:18PM