Energy Literacy Assessment: A Comparative Study of Lower Secondary School Students in Thailand and Japan

Understanding the structure of energy literacy is of importance to provide an effective energy education. This article reports the difference in attributes of energy literacy by applying the energy literacy structural model proposed in our previous study through lower secondary school students in Thailand (N = 635) and Japan (N = 1070). Results indicated that Thai students scored higher than those of Japan except the basic energy knowledge and awareness of consequences. On the other hand, the amount of basic energy knowledge did not affect to increase the entire energy literacy of Japanese students. Moreover, mean values of Japan tended to decrease with the school year progression. The energy literacy model was able to support our previous outcome that the awareness of consequences plays a critical role to link between basic energy knowledge and energy-saving behavior. The social expectations or pressures may affect the structure of energy literacy of Thai students. This study suggested that the energy education required in Thailand is to enable students to derive solutions by their own critical thinking based on knowledge relevant to the energy and environmental issues. While, for Japan, it may be necessary to implement energy education as early as possible to enhance students’ awareness of consequences in an appropriate manner incorporating with family participation and visiting energy-related facility. These findings contribute the development of energy education for improving energy literacy in an effective manner.