Abstract
This study determined the effect of an environmental education intervention on solid waste management among first-year secondary school students at the Mariano Dámaso Beraún Educational Institution in Tambillo Grande during 2024. A quantitative, applied, explanatory study was conducted using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with two class groups. The analysis included 56 students: 27 from First A and 29 from First B. A Likert-type questionnaire, validated by expert judgment, assessed the cognitive, affective, and procedural components of environmental education, as well as waste generation, segregation, and storage practices. Descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk tests, paired t tests or Wilcoxon tests, between-group comparisons, and Spearman correlations were used. Overall environmental education scores increased significantly in First A (t = 4.950, p < .001, d? = 0.953) and First B (t = 7.837, p < .001, d? = 1.455). Overall waste management also improved in First A (W = 25.000, p < .001, r = .838) and First B (t = 4.862, p < .001, d? = .903). The association between the two variables was positive and moderate (? = .570, p < .001). Significant changes were found in generation and segregation, whereas storage showed descriptive gains without statistically significant within-group changes. Environmental education therefore produced a substantial improvement in overall solid waste management, particularly when learning was translated into practical action.
References
Ardoin, N. M., Bowers, A. W., & Gaillard, E. (2020). Environmental education outcomes for conservation: A systematic review. Biological Conservation, 241, 108224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108224
Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe. (2022). Panorama de la gestión de residuos sólidos en América Latina y el Caribe. Naciones Unidas.
Hernández-Sampieri, R., Fernández-Collado, C., & Baptista-Lucio, P. (2014). Metodología de la investigación (6.ª ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Kerlinger, F. N., & Lee, H. B. (2002). Investigación del comportamiento: Métodos de investigación en ciencias sociales (4.ª ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Lakens, D. (2013). Calculating and reporting effect sizes to facilitate cumulative science: A practical primer for t-tests and ANOVAs. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 863. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00863
Likert, R. (1932). A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of Psychology, 22(140), 1-55.
Meyer, A. (2015). Does education increase pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from Europe. Ecological Economics, 116, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.04.018
Ministerio del Ambiente del Perú. (2021). Plan Provincial de Gestión Integral de Residuos Sólidos Municipales 2021-2025: Provincia de Leoncio Prado. Sistema Nacional de Información Ambiental. https://sinia.minam.gob.pe/sites/default/files/archivos/public/docs/PIGARS%202021%20-%202025.pdf
Novo, M. (2009). La educación ambiental: Bases éticas, conceptuales y metodológicas. Universitas.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2022). Are students ready to take on environmental challenges? PISA 2018 results (Vol. VI). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/dac90d4f-en
Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente. (2022). Global waste management outlook 2022. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/global-waste-management-outlook
Sauvé, L. (2005). Currents in environmental education: Mapping a complex and evolving pedagogical field. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 10(1), 11-37.
Tilbury, D. (1995). Environmental education for sustainability: Defining the new focus of environmental education in the 1990s. Environmental Education Research, 1(2), 195-212. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350462950010206
UNESCO. (2017). Education for sustainable development goals: Learning objectives. UNESCO Publishing.
UNESCO. (2020). Education for sustainable development: A roadmap. UNESCO Publishing. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374802
Vicente-Molina, M. A., Fernández-Sáinz, A., & Izagirre-Olaizola, J. (2018). Environmental knowledge and other variables affecting pro-environmental behaviour: Comparison of university students from emerging and advanced countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 188, 315-329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.247

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Criss Marlene Sabino Ascencio, Franklin Dionisio Montalvo, Jeisson David Cabos Sánchez
