Abstract:
The purposes of this research were : 1) to study the behaviour of students at Phuket Vocational College in sorting garbage, 2) to investigate the effectiveness of the electronic book developed by the researcher about how to manage waste correctly, 3) to compare the behaviour of the students with regard to sorting the garbage before and after learning from the electronic book, and 4) to explore participant satisfaction with the electronic book.
The environmental study aimed to research the behaviour of students at Phuket Vocational College in sorting garbage. The researcher analysed 15 garbage bins at the school. The analysis revealed that only 36.69% of the students were able to sort waste properly in the first zone. Moreover, in the second zone, which consisted of the areas around Building 4 (Arts), the Food and Nutrition Building, and the 60th Anniversary Building, about 63.31% of garbage was found in the wrong bins.
With environmental education in mind, the researcher developed an electronic book about how to sort the garbage properly and tested whether or not it had an affect on 45 students at Phuket Vocational College. The research tools consisted of a pre-test and post-test. The data was analysed by using percentage, means, S.D. and t-test. The results of the study revealed that after using the guidelines, the volunteers level of understanding, awareness level, and attitudes toward sorting garbage had increased greatly at a .95 level of reliability. Regarding the sorting behaviour of the students, it was found that after learning from the electronic book, the students behaviour in sorting waste had improved by a level of 14.28%. In terms of the students satisfaction with the electronic book, the level was found to be very high.