Participation in Environmental Protection and Conservation Practices as Predictors of Secondary School Students’ Awareness of Terrestrial Ecosystem Sustainability in Cross River State, Nigeria

This study examined the extent to which secondary school students’ participation in environmental protection and conservation practices predicts their awareness of terrestrial ecosystem sustainability in Cross River State, Nigeria. Awareness is the cognitive foundation of environmentally responsible behavior, yet little is known about the participatory practices that build it among students in this ecologically strategic but under-researched state. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The correlational survey design was adopted. From a population of 25,998 Senior Secondary School Two students, a sample of 394 was drawn using Taro Yamane’s formula and multistage sampling. Two validated instruments, the Students’ Environmental Protection and Conservation Practices Questionnaire (SEPCPQ) and the Students’ Awareness, Perception and Attitude towards Terrestrial Ecosystem Sustainability Questionnaire (SAPATESQ), with overall reliabilities of 0.81 and 0.82, were used for data collection. Linear regression answered the research questions while the associated regression ANOVA tested the hypotheses at the 0.05 level. Results showed that participation in environmental protection practices predicted 36.3% of the variance in awareness (R = .602; F(1,392) = 222.946; p < .05), and participation in conservation practices predicted 34.6% (R = .588; F(1,392) = 207.312; p < .05); both predictions were statistically significant. It was concluded that participatory environmental practices significantly build students’ awareness of terrestrial ecosystem sustainability, and recommendations were made accordingly.

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