Science Communication for Sustainability: Exploring Students' Perceptions of an Extracurricular Chemistry Program
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21831/jipi.v12i2.98534Abstract
This study investigated students’ perceptions toward Eco Chemistry Club, a sustainability-oriented chemistry extracurricular program designed to integrate environmental awareness and science communication within chemistry learning. The study employed a quantitative descriptive survey design involving 260 senior high school students. Data were collected using a 34 item Likert-scale questionnaire covering five dimensions: environmental chemistry activities, sustainability awareness, science communication, perceived benefits of Eco Chemistry Club, and students’ interest in participating in the program. The reliability analysis showed that the instrument had excellent internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.967. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to determine the mean scores and standard deviations for each item and dimension. The findings revealed that students generally demonstrated positive perceptions toward sustainability-oriented chemistry extracurricular activities. The dimensions of Environmental Chemistry Activities and Sustainability Awareness obtained the highest mean scores, indicating strong student support for contextual chemistry learning connected to environmental issues. However, the Science Communication dimension showed comparatively lower scores, suggesting that students still lacked confidence in communicating scientific ideas publicly. The findings suggest that sustainability-oriented extracurricular programs such as Eco Chemistry Club have strong potential to support environmental awareness, active learning, collaboration, and science communication skills within chemistry education. This study highlights the importance of integrating sustainability issues and communication practices into extracurricular chemistry learning to support students’ scientific and environmental competencies.
Keywords. sustainability education; chemistry education; science communication; extracurricular learning; students’ perceptions; environmental chemistry
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