Senior high school students demonstrate low levels of environmental awareness, particularly in their knowledge of environmental topics

07 Jan 2026

The Philippines, like other countries, is facing environmental challenges. One perpetuating problem is deforestation, which has a severe impact on the aquatic environment. Deforestation causes massive losses of biological diversity and serious consequences for human health, including outbreaks of new diseases. Nutrient cycling is severely impaired by deforestation and can result in serious harm, from farm productivity to water pollution problems. A practical example is the overloading of nutrients in water systems, which can trigger eutrophication, leading to fish kill, and the proliferation of harmful red tide organisms, which can cause human poisoning.

The nutrient cycle, a concept that highlights the path nutrients follow as they travel from the soil to plants and other organisms, is an important concept for students to understand, as it connects human actions to their effects on the environment. Understanding how the nutrient cycle works, especially in the context of lake water, is crucial for managing ecosystems effectively and mitigating the impacts of pollution, particularly when caused by anthropogenic factors. Therefore, there is a need to integrate environmental education into class lessons so that individuals can fully grasp the relationship between science and society.

This study randomly selected senior high schools located near Laguna Lake in Los Baños, Laguna. Schools near the lake were targeted because they were relatively familiar with the topic. This study surveyed a total of 110 students from three different schools using simple random sampling. The survey assessed environmental awareness in three categories: knowledge, attitude, and practice, validated through Cronbach’s Alpha test. From the data collected, the respondents were found to have low awareness in terms of knowledge (44.6%), high awareness in terms of attitude (83.6%), and moderately low awareness in terms of practice (67.6%). The results suggest a need to enhance student understanding of environmental concepts and issues to improve their practices, motivating them to adopt sustainable practices. Overall, the results of this study support the premise that there is a need to create teaching materials and activities to improve the practices among students.

Authors: Mayumi Kara M. Buot (Basic education, TRACE College | University of the Philippines Los Baños) and Cervinia V. Manalo (University of the Philippines Los Baños | Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines Los Baños)

Read the full paper: https://www.bio-conferences.org/articles/bioconf/pdf/2024/20/bioconf_icolib2023_01007.pdf

Image by DaveMeier from Pixabay

Senior high school students demonstrate low levels of environmental awareness, particularly in their knowledge of environmental topics

The Philippines, like other countries, is facing environmental challenges. One perpetuating problem is deforestation, which has a severe impact on the aquatic environment. Deforestation causes massive losses of biological diversity and serious consequences for human health, including outbreaks of new diseases. Nutrient cycling is severely impaired by deforestation and can result in serious harm, from farm productivity to water pollution problems. A practical example is the overloading of nutrients in water systems, which can trigger eutrophication, leading to fish kill, and the proliferation of harmful red tide organisms, which can cause human poisoning.

The nutrient cycle, a concept that highlights the path nutrients follow as they travel from the soil to plants and other organisms, is an important concept for students to understand, as it connects human actions to their effects on the environment. Understanding how the nutrient cycle works, especially in the context of lake water, is crucial for managing ecosystems effectively and mitigating the impacts of pollution, particularly when caused by anthropogenic factors. Therefore, there is a need to integrate environmental education into class lessons so that individuals can fully grasp the relationship between science and society.

This study randomly selected senior high schools located near Laguna Lake in Los Baños, Laguna. Schools near the lake were targeted because they were relatively familiar with the topic. This study surveyed a total of 110 students from three different schools using simple random sampling. The survey assessed environmental awareness in three categories: knowledge, attitude, and practice, validated through Cronbach’s Alpha test. From the data collected, the respondents were found to have low awareness in terms of knowledge (44.6%), high awareness in terms of attitude (83.6%), and moderately low awareness in terms of practice (67.6%). The results suggest a need to enhance student understanding of environmental concepts and issues to improve their practices, motivating them to adopt sustainable practices. Overall, the results of this study support the premise that there is a need to create teaching materials and activities to improve the practices among students.

Authors: Mayumi Kara M. Buot (Basic education, TRACE College | University of the Philippines Los Baños) and Cervinia V. Manalo (University of the Philippines Los Baños | Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines Los Baños)

Read the full paper: https://www.bio-conferences.org/articles/bioconf/pdf/2024/20/bioconf_icolib2023_01007.pdf

Image by DaveMeier from Pixabay