SDCA Asia-Pacific Multidisciplinary Research Journal

Abstract

At this time of Covid-19 pandemic, developing countries such as the Philippines is still in the high risk of possible effects of climate change due to its climate-sensitive economy and low adaptive capacities. As the country is under dual threat: the adverse effects Covid-19 and enduring climate change crisis. With this, the online class for a semester is a good way to continue educating students about the effects and causes of climate change. Thus, this study aims to assess knowledge, perception, and the level of awareness on climate change of college students amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The method used was quantitative and was participated by 135 college students. The instrument used was a validated online survey questionnaire with structured close-and open-ended questions concerning the factors that led students to acquire knowledge, perception, and awareness on climate change. The data was analyzed using the following statistical treatment and techniques: Frequency Count and Percentage, Percent and rank, weighted mean and One-way analysis of variance. And the results indicate that students in all year levels are all highly knowledgeable of climate change, wherein they described climate change as rising of temperature of the earth (84.4%) that brought extreme typhoons (83.7%), and rising sea level (78.5%). The students mostly acquired their knowledge on climate change through the online classes (39.3%), social media (26.7%), and rarely in their family and relatives (1.5%). The grand mean for students’ perceptions towards Climate Change is 4.69 and the extent of awareness on the causes, effect, and action related to Climate Change has a grand mean of 4.29, which indicates strong awareness. Moreover, the study revealed that knowledge, perception, and level of awareness were not influenced by year level, sex, age, and degree program. Hence, it is concluded that online class on environmental science, which includes related topics like global warming, El Nino, and La Nina in the curriculum has an integral role in raising effective awareness and knowledge on mitigation measures towards climate change. The study recommends the use of qualitative method to further improve the study. Additionally, it can be presented as a project study proposal to the municipality for the local government units for its socio-environmental research projects. 

Keywords: Climate change. Covid-19 pandemic. College students.

To cite this article:

Liwanag, B. A., & Lee, M. D. (2021). An assessment on climate change among college students of St. Dominic College of Asia (SDCA) amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. SDCA Asia-Pacific Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 3, 13-20. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.8022195