Efficacy of Recycling Education Integrated with Ecology Course Prepared within the Context of Enrichment among Gifted Students

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of the recycling education integrated with ecology course in terms of gifted students' environmental attitudes, recycling knowledge and conceptual understanding about ecology. In the study, weak experimental design was used. Recycling Education Program (REP) was prepared which is integrated into the subject of Ecosystem Ecology. Data collection tools were applied before and after the REP application. The content analysis method was used in order to analyse the data obtained through Ecosystem Ecology Conceptual Understanding Test (EECUT) in the framework of the research. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to determine whether there was a statistical difference (p<0.05) between the pre-test and post-test scores of the Recycling Knowledge Test (RKT) and Environmental Attitude Scale (EAS). The answers of the students to EECUT showed that there is an improvement in the level of conceptual understanding after the applications. The differences between the pre-test and post-test scores of RKT and EAS were found to be statistically significant. This situation showed that there is an advancement of students' knowledge about recycling and attitudes towards the environment.