Effects of Environmental Education: Recycling in School-Aged Children

The study uses a between-subjects experimental design to measure whether environmental education will increase recycling knowledge and behavior. Seven participants were invited to join in a game where they separated wastes into three categories: trash, recycle, and compost. The children’s environmental knowledge were measured by the number of items placed in the correct bin. A learning check, consisting of wrapped stickers, was utilized at the end of the study to measure the effectiveness of the intervention. A prompt was used when children were given their present to ensure the children opened their prize and threw away the wrapper. To pass the learning check, participants must place the wrapper into the recycling bin. Participants were given the sticker as a prize for their participation. Our study found significant difference in the proportions of items placed in the bins between the experimental and control groups. However, all groups failed the learning check, implying the participants did not learn how to recycle