The Awareness of Social Studies Pre-Service Teachers About the Concept of Environmental Waste Recycling and Acrostics Trials

Due to globalization and the impact of industrialization and urbanization, natural resources are wasted, and popular consumption leads to environmental waste. The problem of waste that deteriorates individual and social life is a prominent current issue. Recycling, described as the remanufacturing, production and employment of collected material, is an important solution to that problem. The present study aimed to determine the awareness of pre-service social studies teachers about the concept of environmental waste recycling and to analyze acrostic poems written by the participants. The study findings included the views of the pre-service social studies teachers. A semi-structured interview form was developed by the authors under expert supervision and employed to collect the views of the pre-service teachers. The pre-service teachers included in the study sample were assigned with simple random sampling technique and the study group included 162 pre-service social studies teachers. The descriptive survey model was employed in the study, the data were analyzed with content and descriptive analysis techniques to determine thematic codes. Furthermore, an acrostic poem authoring activity on the concept of recycling was conducted with the participants. The poems authored by the participants are presented as a category in a table in the findings section. The study findings revealed significant results on the recycling concept and processes. It was determined that the views of the participating pre-service social studies teachers reflected a high level of awareness on the concept of recycling and exhibited various perspectives on the implementation.