Promoting adaptation to climate change using a manual for high school students at Sisawat Wittaya Municipality School, Mahasarakham Province, Thailand

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the differences in levels of knowledge, attitude, and awareness of adaptation to climate change among a group of high school students before and after the implementation of the Manual for Adaptation to Climate Change. Thirty-two eighth-graders from Sisawat Wittaya Municipality School, located in Mahasarakham’s Muang district, were selected through purposive sampling. The research tools were three sets of evaluation forms that tested the participants’ levels of knowledge, attitude, and awareness of climate change adaptation. The data were analyzed using mean, percentile, standard deviation, and paired-Test. The study found a low level of student knowledge on adaptation to climate change in the pre-test; it was moderate during the post-test (significant difference at 0.05). As to students’ attitude toward adaptation to climate change, the pre-test score was rated at an “Agree level,” while the post-test indicated “Highly Agree”, indicating that the students’ attitude toward the adaptation to the climate change was improved. The attitude score in the post-test was significantly higher than that in the pre-test at the 5% level. Moreover, student awareness increased (highly agree) after the Manual was introduced to them.