ENERGY LITERACY, RECYCLING AND RATIONAL USE OF MATERIALS IN THE DAILY LIFE IN STUDENTS OF THE FIFTH CLASS PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF AN URBAN AREA

Decreasing the ecological impact, through the reduction or non-use of material and energy, is an important modern educational challenge in the context of education for sustainable development. Information, environmental awareness and enhancing students' critical thinking shape tomorrow's critically-minded adult citizens. The purpose of this research is to capture and highlight the basic knowledge, perceptions and daily practices of using material and, indirectly, energy, in the daily lives of children, counting their existing energy literacy. It was implemented in 132 students of Fifth Grade of three primary schools in an urban area of Rhodes using a questionnaire of 19 closed-ended questions. The data were analyzed with the statistical program SPSS 23 and are presented descriptively. The results of the study show that the bicycle was chosen by a limited number of children, as an environmentally friendly mean of transportation. However, yet, many children travel on foot to and from school, contributing significantly to saving resources. Also, according to their statements, they save a lot of water in their various daily personal uses, such as brushing their teeth, their faces, using a shower for their physical hygiene and washing their family car. Nevertheless, they use an extensive amount of bottled water as drinking water, resulting the deterioration of the issue plastic production and management. Although they know a lot about the issue of transporting food from distant areas, they still consume a lot of such foods in their daily life, while vegetarianism is extremely rare as a way of eating, as well as their knowledge about local seasonal fruits. They, also, state that there is a very significant degree of recycling and separation of materials in the school units they attend, while in their homes it is implemented to a lesser degree compared to schools. Furthermore, while the recycling of light bulbs is generally carried out to a significant degree, their placement to special lamp bins instead of light glass bins in ordinary glass bins is sometimes confused. This is also the case for batteries. When it comes to printing files on a printer, there is generally good paper handling and reuse, but not enough ink savings. Also, from their statements, it appears that packaging materials are taken into account to a significant extent when purchasing products. Overall, there is quite environmentally friendly behaviour which, of course, needs to be reinforced with specialized teaching approaches in the context of education for sustainable development and a possible final repetition of the study at a later time for the evaluation of interventions in the context of energy literacy.