English abstract
This study aimed to examine the effect of using the place-based learning approach
in teaching science on environmental concepts, environmental behavior, and attitudes
toward the environment among fourth-grade students. The study used the quasiexperimental approach. The sample consisted of (60) male and female students from
the fourth grade who were chosen from one of A’Seeb schools in Muscat Governorate.
The sample of the study was divided into two groups. The experimental group consisted
of 31 male and female students who received instruction through the place-based
approach, while the control group of comprised 29 male and female students who were
taught using the traditional conventional method. The experiment took about four
weeks during the first semester of the academic year 2022/2023.
To achieve the objectives of the study, a teacher's guide and student activities
booklet were prepared to teach the unit to the experimental group using the place-based
learning approach. The validity of the guide was verified by presenting it to a group of
specialists in teaching science. Also, a test in environmental concepts, a scale of
environmental behavior, and a scale of attitude towards the environment were prepared.
The validity and reliability of the instruments were verified to ensure their applicability.
The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference at the
level of (0.05 ≥ α) between the mean scores of the experimental group that studied the
unit according to the place-based learning approach and the scores of the control group
that studied using the conventional method in the post application of the environmental
concepts test, the environmental behavior scale, and the attitude towards the
environment scale after they learn the unit of organisms and environments, which was
in favor of the experimental group.
In light of these results, some recommendations were presented, including
activating the place-based learning approach in teaching, emphasizing it’s role in
developing environmental concepts and behaviors and the attitude towards the
environment and providing training courses or workshops for science teachers at
various educational levels on how to employ the place-based learning approach, and
the necessity to link students’ learning to the local environment and society, directing
science teachers to search for suitable places for the curriculum lessons that improve
their problem-solving skills, and working to give students a positive attitude towards
the environment through their contact with reality, and encouraging supervisors and
curriculum designers to design lessons that adapt the environment in which the students
live and put proposals for places that can be visited and are close to the school.
