Developing a Renewable Energy Awareness Scale for Pre-Service Chemistry Teachers

In times when human beings used to live in a natural environment, their needs were also provided for by natural resources. With the increase in population over time, human beings started to look for new resources willing to get "the most" and "the fastest". Just like the invention of steam, first, they increased the density of the resources and produced "more" energy. However, instead of working on the density of water, which spreads with the solar energy, they chose an easier way, which was fuel which produced more energy when burned. Unfortunately, the damages these fuel products created in the atmosphere and environment shaded their benefits. It did not take very long for the earth to run out of energy resources and to threaten environmental and human health. As a result of that, new energy resources were sought and the studies enlightened the concepts of sustainable, renewable energy. Renewable energy is defined as "the energy source, which continues its existence for the following days within the evolution of nature". Educators pointed out a need in students for gaining a consciousness of renewable energy resources. In the light of the importance of renewable and sustainable energy, a "Renewable Energy Awareness Scale" that questioned to what extent the individuals were aware of renewable energy was developed. The Renewable Energy Awareness Scale, which consisted of 50 items, was administered as a pilot study. The factor analysis concluded with a scale of 39 items with a reliability coefficient of 0.944 was developed. (Contains 2 tables.)