Chemical Education Journal (CEJ), Vol. 10, No. 2 /Registration No. 10-10/Received November 5, 2007.
URL = http://chem.sci.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp/cejrnlE.html

Impact of Green Chemistry Experiments on Pre-Service Teachers' Environmental Values

Email: zuridausm.my

Abstract
This paper describes the outcome of the study that was conducted to evaluate the impact of green chemistry experiments on environmental values of pre-service teachers. A total of 110 undergraduate student teachers enrolled in the Chemistry Teaching Methods Level II course were involved in the study. The study employed a one sample pre-post test design. The students were assigned to do five green chemistry experiments for five weeks with one experiment per week. Discussions relating the chemistry concepts to environmental issues were conducted as part of the post-lab discussion. The experiments were conducted in groups of 2-3 students and supervised by the course instructor and tutor. The questionnaire on environmental values was administered at the beginning of the semester and again at the end of the seventh week. The results showed that the pre-service teachers were found to be more ecocentric and less homocentric and egocentric. Egocentric values revolve around concern for personal well-being. Homocentric values revolve around concern for other human beings. Ecocentric or biocentric values revolve around concern for the whole ecosystem or biosphere. As an indication for sustainable lifestyle the values should move towards the ecocentric end of the continuum or hierarchy.

Introduction
Values are normative views about the world and are concerned with the way the world ought to be. Values are enduring beliefs that forms specific modes of conduct preferable to other alternatives. Values are formed from world-views, paradigms and belief systems (Yencken, Fien and Sykes, 2000). The values that individuals hold are reflected in their actions and ideas which fundamentally act as guide to how they ought to live their lives, interacting with other people and with other species (Dietz, Fitzgerald and Showm, 2005). Therefore, linking values with schooling and environmental education is appropriate as values underpin everything humans in (and with) the world (William and Chris, 1998). William and Chris (1998) further asserted that unlike many areas of the curriculum, environmental education (EE) is directly and overtly concerned with influencing learners' attitudes and behaviours. It is widely held that values education is central to this process.

Kimberly (1996) suggested the concept of EE needs to be transformed from education about the environment to education for the environment. EE about the environment is achieved through conventional teaching which enhances pupils' understanding and knowledge about the environment. Alternatively, EE for the environment is more complex in which pupils are encouraged either individually or collectively to act in some way so as to benefit the environment. EE about the environment has resulted in unformed values and muddling between facts and values (Dietz, 2001). One way of implementing EE for the environment is by acknowledging EE as a cross-curricular dimension and impregnates all subjects in the education system with EE (Aleixandre and Otero, 1995). Aleixandre and Rodroguez (2001) reported 61% of the teachers believed that EE should be integrated as a cross-curricular dimension in all subjects. Amongst the many subjects, science seems to be the most appropriate to integrate EE. Science incorporated with EE reflects an interdisciplinary basis (Fien and Tilbury, 1996).

Integration of EE into science education contributes to different perspectives of science literacy. The interdisciplinary nature of science is not only for the enhancement of scientific concepts, developments of skills or environmental awareness, additionally it conveys citizenry education. As claimed by McGinn and Roth (1999), science literacy in a broader perspective prepares for participation in a variety of situations, locations and communities. A learning view coherent with this perspective is to organise the classroom as knowledge-producing communities, where students are provided with opportunities for active participation in what to do and how to do it and playing a different role from spectator of teacher's performances. Students from knowledge producing community's classroom ultimately could develop values and attitude in relation to the natural environment. Accordingly, in real life circumstances the student's behaviour in a way consistently will reflect their values.

One of the obstacles to the incorporation of EE into the existing curriculum is the lack of preparation as well as the scarce availability of materials and examples of sound teaching practices. Inadequate teacher training in values education is also another contributing factor that hinders the development of values education (William and Chris, 1998). Accordingly, this paper proposes a value-laden curriculum for chemistry teaching methods course with integration of green chemistry experiments. Additionally, this paper also describes the value change attained by the pre-service teachers from their experiences with green chemistry experiments.

Schwartz (1977) treats environmentalism as a type of altruism. Schwartz (1977) asserted that pro-environmental behaviour is due to the fact that people have a general value orientation toward the welfare of others. They value outcomes that benefit others and can be motivated to act to prevent harm to others. Stern et al., (1993) expanded on Schwartz's model by offering two value orientations. They concluded that in addition to the altruistic (human welfare) value orientation, egoistic and biospheric value orientations also underlie environmental attitudes and behaviour.

Egocentric values tend to revolve around concern for personal well being while homocentric values revolve around concern for other human beings. Concern for the environment would be based on the costs or benefits for all people. People holding these values are more concerned about human society as a whole and may pursue a course of action which satisfies the needs of a maximum amount of people, whether it is the most environmentally friendly course of action or not. Ecocentric values revolve around concern for the whole ecosystem or biosphere. Individuals with these values believe that the environment should be protected due to its intrinsic worth; it has value independent of its usefulness to humans.

Egoistic, humanistic and biospheric values orientations toward the environment are not incompatible; indeed they may be related. Many people's environmental attitudes reflect some combination of the three orientations. Milbrath (1984) has suggested that a more sustainable society requires a shift in values away from justice to self (egoistic) towards justice for all (ecocentric). Hunter's (1996) and Noss's (1992) assertions were congruent with Milbrath's (1984); society needs to move towards ecocentric end of the continuum as the society moves towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Rescher (1982) suggested that although values are fairly stable and learned at an early stage, they do change in various ways. Palmer (1993) proposed that the biggest period of value change occurs during the higher education process when the students are exposed to many different experiences, viewpoints and information.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of green chemistry experiments on the environmental values of pre-service teachers.

Methodology
The sample consisted of 110 pre-service teachers from Universiti Sains Malaysia. At the time of the study, the subjects were either in the second or third year of Science Education Degree Programme and enrolled in the chemistry teaching methods course. The questionnaire was administered twice to the subjects. The questionnaire was first administered during the first week of the semester and subsequently on the 7th week of the semester.

Green chemistry experiments were conducted during the tutorial sessions. Table 1 shows the experiments conducted by the pre-service teachers. The experiments were obtained from various sources and tailored to the Malaysian curriculum (Cann and Connelly, 2000; Doxsee and Hutchison, 2004; GEMs Database, 2005). Green Chemistry, also known as sustainable chemistry, refers to the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry is a highly effective approach to pollution prevention because it applies innovative scientific solutions to real world environmental problems (EPA, 1996). According to Braun et al., (2006), green chemistry experiments provide a connection between the material taught in class and the students' everyday environment. Green chemistry experiments also provide a holistic training ground for future chemists. It allows the students and teachers to ethically address the environmental issues faced by the local and global community (Haack et al., 2005). Teaching and learning of green chemistry enables the development of higher order cognitive skills such as communicative skills, problem solving skills and decision making abilities (Anne, 2007). As such integration and implementation of green chemistry experiments perhaps would be one way of introducing value base education. Additionally, implementation of green chemistry experiments is highly feasible as these experiments were integrated into the existing curriculum. This means that the whole structure of the curriculum is not reformed but the existing chemistry experiments were presented with a greener approach.

Table 1
List of experiments conducted in the five weeks

Week	Experiment
1	Biodiesel production
2	Carbon dioxide production
3	Heating and cooling curve of lauric acid
4	Need to green the waste
5	Cleaning with atom economy

The questionnaire used in this study was a revised version of the Questionnaire on Environmental Values (Kempton et al., 1995) and contains 37 items. The items were classified into three categories: egocentric, homocentric and ecocentric/biocentric. The scale used in this questionnaire is a six point Likert-type scale: strongly agree, agree, slightly agree, disagree, slightly disagree or strongly disagree. Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS. Items in the questionnaire were scored 1 to 6 with 1 being most environmental and 6 the least environmental (Kempton, et al., 1995).

Results and Discussion
Table 2 shows the pre-test mean, post-test mean as well as the p value of the one tailed paired t-test. Pre and post-test means were calculated using the respondent's mean answer to the items in the questionnaire. The mean values of the three categories (egocentric, homocentric and biocentric) were used to identify the trend of value change. The mean value of each category was determined by aggregating the responses of the subject for each category. Overall value change was determined using the mean scores for the entire items in the questionnaire. Paired t-test was conducted on the pre-test and post-test scores to determine if there is a statistically significant change in values.

Table 2
Paired sample statistics

Category	Pre-Test Mean	Standard Deviation	Post-Test Mean	Standard Deviation	P value (a = 0.05)
Egocentric	3.6679	0.5380	3.9307	0.5494	0.001
Homocentric	2.8700	0.3699	2.8442	0.3315	0.0592
Ecocentric	2.5419	0.5558	2.3132	0.5303	0.004
Overall	3.0266	0.3024	2.4431	0.2970	0.000

Each item in the questionnaire was scored from 1 to 6, with 1 being most environmental answer and 6 being the least environmental answer as suggested by Kempton et al., (1995). Therefore, a decrease in the mean score between the pre and post-test means shows that the student's answer has become more environmental. Overall results indicate that when all the items are taken into consideration, the students' answers have become more environmental as shown by the decrease in the mean value from 3.0266 to 2.4431 and this difference is significant as indicated by the p-value of 0.000 (p<0.05). They also seem to become less egocentric as shown by an increase in the mean value of pre test and post test from 3.6679 to 3.9307 and the difference is significant (p-value of 0.001; p<0.05). For the homocentric category the students' responses showed that they had become more homocentric as shown by the decrease in the mean values of the pre and post test. However, the difference is not significant (p-value of 0.0592; p>0.05).

Figure 1 shows the environmental value profile based on the mean scores of egocentric, homocentric and ecocentric category obtained from pre and post-tests. From Figure 1 it can be postulated that there is a difference between the pre and post-test scores. The difference is statistically significant for egocentric, ecocentric and overall value. However, the change in the homocentric category is not significant.

Figure 1:
Environmental values profile

The mean value indicates that the students are less ecocentric and more homocentric and egocentric. Egocentric values tend to revolve around concern for personal well-being. Individuals holding these values may be more concerned with pursuing an economically advantageous course of action in order to maximize personal success (Axelrod, 1994). They may also deny that humans have a negative effect on the environment (Stern, 2000). On the other hand, ecocentric values revolve around concern for the whole ecosystem or biosphere. Individuals who hold these values believe that the environment should be protected due to its intrinsic worth and the environment has value independent of its usefulness to humans. They place a high value on the earth and judge actions according to their effects on the biosphere (Kempton et al., 1995). Individuals holding these values will be the most likely to pursue a course of action which protects the environment, even if it involves personal sacrifice (Axelrod, 1994). The finding of this study is in parallel with Carson's (1962) statement whereby the majority possesses values which are centred on human beings rather the biosphere.

The value change that has resulted from the experiences with green chemistry experiments is significantly important since teachers will only express the values they find important to their students through pedagogical content knowledge (Veugelers, 2000). The teacher will try to influence this process of constructing meaning by providing content and in particular through his/her interaction with the students. Green chemistry experiments as an effective laboratory-based pedagogy serves well for this purpose. Heaton et al., (2006) said embedding green chemistry principles could lead to development of curriculum and pedagogy that would lead to the development of values, knowledge and skills towards contributing to sustainable development.

Time is noted as a potential barrier in implementing interdisciplinary education that will lead to value change and ultimately towards behaviour change of the learners (Powers, 2004). Implementation of curriculum integrated with green chemistry experiments perhaps would be a solution for the proposed hindrance. The incorporation of the 12 green chemistry principles into the existing curriculum serves as reminder that the chemistry has social as well as environmental impacts (Braun et al., 2006). Green chemistry concepts provide a connection between the materials taught in class and the students' everyday life. Furthermore, the students will possess the ability to relate chemical concepts to the real world and to their chosen career path through green chemistry. This is possible because green chemistry as sustainable chemistry reflects an interdisciplinary nature as it portrays economic, environmental and societal factors (Haack et al., 2005).

Conclusion
In conclusion, this study found that the integration of green chemistry experiments into the chemistry teaching methods course enabled students to embrace the environmental values. The values changed towards being more environmental. With exposure and hands-on experiences in green chemistry students were able to move towards the ecocentric end of the continuum which reflects the students' effort in adapting towards a more sustainable lifestyle. It is proposed then that the incorporation of green chemistry must not stop with the pre-service teachers' curriculum. Rather the implementation could be extended into the Integrated Secondary School (or KBSM) chemistry and science curriculum as well.

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