ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND ENVIRONMENT: A LOOK FROM HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS THROUGH THE ROSES PROJECT

Objective: the objective of this study is to investigate the attitudes towards S&T, the current environmental challenges, and the future of our planet of higher education students of two educational careers through the ROSES project. Theoretical Framework: Attitudes are a fundamental component of our personality; the attitudes have a close and undeniable relationship with the teaching-learning process, as they underlie the moment of making a decision or trying to solve a problem. Method: We investigate attitudes through the categories “Me and environmental challenges” and “My opinions about science and technology” from the ROSES questionnaire. Results and Discussion: Regarding the “Me and environmental challenges” scale, most of pre-service teachers showed favorable environmental attitudes. A lack of some knowledge was detected, such as the origin of environmental problems. Regarding “My opinions about science and technology”, both pre-service teachers and pedagogy students showed moderately positive attitudes. The results of this work are of great relevance for the whole citizenship for they can make reasoned and informed decisions to solve the environmental problems that are within their reach, therefor it is important to have knowledge about the environment and S&T. Research Implications: The results of this work are of great relevance so that all citizens can can improve learning, curriculum, textbooks, and classroom activities based on empirical results and thereby increase interest in S&T and its relationship to the environment, so that there is respect for cultural diversity, gender equity, empower citizens to participate in these issues that directly concern them. Originality/Value: This research contributes new knowledge about the environmental challenges that all human beings currently face.


INTRODUCTION
There is a need for all citizens to have knowledge about S&T and the environment, since it is the citizens who suffer the environmental impacts when economic interests are superimposed on social welfare (García-Ruiz, Cid del Prado and Calixto, 2010).
The lack of relevance of S&T and the environment for students is a major barrier to learning about these subjects and, in the long term, this can have repercussions for society.
Therefore, teaching positive attitudes towards the environment and S&T should itself be a relevant learning objective, as it has value for the personal and social interests of individuals and societies.To this end, student-centered educational approaches are essential for preservice teacher.
We must remember that our planet is a complex system that contains a mutual dependence of the functions fulfilled by many elements that exchange matter, energy, and information (García, 2006): it is a system where everything is intertwined (García-Ruiz and Delgadillo, 2019).
The call to face the planetary environmental crisis is becoming increasingly urgent in global discourses that express a concern for recovering the ecological balance (García-Ruiz and Delgadillo, 2019).
Unfortunately, Mexico is a country that suffers the most from environmental problems particularly the effects of climate change as it is exposed to geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and strong hurricanes.Mexico City also faces serious effects, such as the increase in temperature during the hot season and the frequency and intensity of rainfall, these meteorological phenomena can cause droughts in some areas and floods in others (Ospina, Gay and Conde, 2014).
Mexico has gone through drastic economic, political, and social changes, all of which have been followed by a great environmental deterioration that is reflected in physical and mental health problems, poverty, insecurity, social inequity in the loss of biodiversity and cultural diversity, loss of values, and quality of life.
All of these problems, together with unfavorable attitudes toward S&T point to the need for scientific-technological-environmental literacy, given that the world is increasingly affected and shaped by the use given to S&T (García-Ruiz, 2013).
In short, to change the way we relate to nature and to each other.And it is education that should encourage learners to question themselves, to understand that the planet is a 4 complex and intertwined system, and to foster favorable attitudes towards the environment and S&T.(García-Ruiz and Calixto, 2016).
The study of attitudes has a long track record in social psychology and, for several year it has been recognized that affective variables are as important as cognitive variables in their influence on learning (Koballa, 1988).
Our interest is focused on attitudes, due to the high correlation they have with the cognitive process.Attitudes are a fundamental component of our personality: the mere presence of affection is enough to trigger a tendency to action, even if it has social influences such as norms, roles, values, or beliefs.However, it has been shown over time that the hidden curriculum has been the main way in which values and attitudes have been transmitted in school.Therefore, it is of utmost importance to emphasize the baggage of attitudes, values, and knowledge that pre-service teachers possess, since they will be the ones who will play a significant role in the students' school life.
This research develops an empirical analysis on student voice regarding S&T issues and the environment, which seeks to contribute to the proper training of education professionals through student-centered teaching.
Therefore, the objective of this work is to investigate the attitudes towards S&T, the current environmental challenges, and the future of our planet of higher education students of two educational careers through the ROSES project.

AFFECTIVE ELEMENTS: ATTITUDES
One of the main challenges facing education today is the rapid technological and scientific development and its impact on the environment (García-Ruiz, Maciel and Vázquez, 2014).The impact of this development on society and the environment goes beyond understanding the phenomena of nature, having better health, or having technological elements that provide us with greater comfort in everyday life.It has even reached the affective dimension of individuals; that is, the field of attitudes and values.Hence, education tries in addition to building skills and abilities in students, to foster attitudes and values, competencies that allow them to develop successfully in different contexts and to integrate into the society in which they live.One of the current trends in environmental education is to promote favorable environmental attitudes and foster social responsibility towards the environment for a sustainable future (García-Ruiz and Calixto, 2016).
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the concept of attitude was introduced in North American social psychology to designate an element of an individual's behavior motivated by the reaction in favor or against a stimulus coming from his or her environment that expresses a tendency to act.This concept became so important that Gordon Allport (as quoted in Petty and Cacioppo, 1996) pointed out that attitude was the most distinctive and essential concept in contemporary social psychology (García-Ruiz and Calixto, 2016).
Several problems have been detected in education, among which are the lack of acceptance of attitudes as important contents (García-Ruiz and Calixto, 1999;García-Ruiz, 2001), so much so that if we analyze the curriculum we will see that throughout history, it has focused more on contents, methods, and techniques, than on the learning and modification of attitudes and values that lead students at different school levels to behave favorably towards the environment (García-Ruiz, 2001).
At present, it is undeniable that the cognitive factor has an indissoluble link with the affective factor in the teaching-learning process (Yager and Penick, 1983;Freedman, 1997;Gutiérrez, 1998;among others).
Neuroscience confirms the profound relationship that exists between cognitive and affective elements and, therefore, their influence on the teaching-learning process: emotions maintain curiosity, help us to communicate, and are essential in the processes of reasoning and decision making, i.e., emotional and cognitive processes are inseparable; learning, cognitive, and rational thinking cannot be artificially separated from emotions, because they all interact intrinsically in the limbic system of the brain before being processed in the cerebral cortex.This means that cognitive and intellectual functions are permeated by emotions; today, there is no doubt that emotions are intimately linked to learning and knowledge (Damasio as quoted in Vázquez, 2013).
Teaching is strongly charged with emotions and attitudes, stimulated by and directed towards people, values, and ideals (Garritz and Ortega-Villar, 2013), and what triggers learning is also the emotion that awakens people's interest hence attitudes towards that learning and attention.Moreover, a new discipline has recently emerged in which the knowledge generated by neuroscience, education, and social psychology converge: neuroeducation, which is based on the principle that emotion and cognition are processes that go hand in hand and that interrelate with each other to give the behavior of the subject as a final result (Mora, 2013).6 Therefore, attitudes permeate the entire educational process and guide the perceptual and cognitive processes that lead to learning.In addition, the attitudes that students have with regards to the content they are taught, the way it is taught, and the person who teaches it have a significant influence on what they will learn (Sarabia, 1992).
The relevance of attitudes has been emphasized for several years in educational research, making evident the influence of constructs such as attitudes, motivation, selfconcept and emotional intelligence on learning processes (Goleman, 1996;Vázquez and Manassero, 2007).
Attitudes are a fundamental component of the individual's personality, the mere presence of affection can be enough to trigger an action, even if it has social influences such as norms, roles, values, or beliefs.Unfortunately, however, it is through the hidden curriculum that values and attitudes are mainly transmitted at school (García-Ruiz and Calixto, 2016).
In short, attitudes have a close and undeniable relationship with the teaching-learning process; they are part of critical thinking and, therefore, underlie the moment of making a decision or trying to solve a problem.
Therefore, it is important to recognize the relevance of the emotional part, which is clearly evidenced in attitudes.
After the previous paragraphs, the need to evaluate affective aspects as key elements for education proves evident since, although there is a tendency to recognize that attitudes are important affective variables in academic achievement, no systematic mechanisms have been implemented that allow their recognition, development, and evaluation; hence the relevance of being able to understand the attitudes of subjects as important as young people at the higher education level are, especially those enrolled in educational careers.

THE ROSES PROJECT
The ROSES project had as its predecessor The Relevance of Science Education (ROSE) project, which was an international comparative study that sought to identify both the decisive factors for S&T learning and students' attitudes of respect and interest towards the environment at the beginning of the 20th century (Schreiner and Sjoberg, 2005).
The results of ROSE showed the little relevance and disenchantment that adolescent students had about the topics of science, technology, and the environment and many differences were found with respect to gender in young people from.Western countries, where the gap in science careers was truly significant, few young people and much less girls 7 showed liking for scientific and technological careers (Sjøberg & Schreiner, 2019); this brings serious consequences, both for school learning and for society in general, which must be aware of these issues in order to participate, have an informed opinion, and make appropriate decisions about them in their city, in their country, and even globally (Jidesjö, Oskarsson & Westman, 2020).
Therefore, education in CyT must evolve into models that develop skills and values appropriate for a scientifically educated citizen (Gallego Torres, 2020).
In order to continue with the trends and development of this issue, in 2020 the iniciative to carry out the project The Relevance of Science Education-Second (ROSES) arose, which is a new version of the ROSE project.ROSES is also an international comparative research, it is an exploratory study whose purpose is to provide an empirical view of the elements related to the relevance of S&T content and its relationship with the environment from the point of view and direct voice of students, which aims to reveal the factors that shape their attitudes, opinions, and motivations towards S&T learning and the environment.ROSES emphasizes student voices to explore the ideas they have about their school, their background, interests, values, culture, and the pedagogical bases underlying opinions, choices, and ambitions (Manassero and Vázquez, 2021).
The empirical evidence provided by ROSES can be used to understand aspects of modernity, identity, youth culture, and what it means to learn about S&T topics in different contexts (Jidesjö, Oskarsson & Westman, 2020).Aschim et al. (2021) showed ROSES-2020 results from Norway that represent s reference for this study on school science classes.The proportion of Norwegian students agreeing that school science is interesting is high (68 %).However, regarding school science opening eyes to new and exciting work, the agreement rates remain around a low agreement rate (about 30 %), slightly higher in ROSES-2020.The proportion of students who like school science more than most other subjects has increased from 33 % (Rose-2002) to 41 % (ROSES-2020).In addition, the proportion of students who agree that science will be useful in their daily lives shows a slight decrease (from 57 % in Rose-2002 to 54 % in ROSES-2020).
The image of school science among Norwegian children is nuanced and interesting.
In 2002, a significant proportion of boys (larger than girls) agreed that school science is interesting, better than most other subjects, useful for everyday life, and open to new and exciting work.In 2020, gender differences have decreased considerably and even reversed on some items, such as about school science, it has been useful in my daily life and opened my eyes to new and exciting jobs (Aschim et al., 2021).

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ROSES research results can be the focus of reasoned and informed discussions that empower citizens to participate in decisions that directly concern them in their daily lives, as well as the planet where S&T is involved.

PARTICIPANTS
In this research, we decided to work with future education professionals: 49 pedagogy students and 48 students of primary education with an average age of 21 and 20 years, respectively, as environmental-scientific-technological attitudes are transversal to all ages and we consider that it is very important to characterize their attitudes, since they are the ones who will be the trainers of future children and young people and the ones who should encourage favorable attitudes towards S&T and the environment in their future students.

Informed consent
The survey has the following legend: You are responsible for the information you provide to this investigation.We ask you to answer all questions.However, you can stop replying at any time if you wish.
This questionnaire does NOT require your personal data, so it is anonymous, and the confidentiality of the information will be safeguarded and always protected, under the ethical principles of scientific research.
If you answer this questionnaire, it is assumed that you ACCEPT the terms established in this informed consent.
Your participation is really appreciated.

Environmental challenges and me
This scale explores students' attitudes, opinions, and interests regarding environmental challenges.The data provides information about young women's and young men's considerations of the seriousness of these challenges, whether they feel personally involved, and whether they feel empowered to influence possible solutions.Some environmental challenges are global in nature, but there are also local challenges that people experience on a daily basis.In the ROSES project, it is assumed that the items in this section will generate highly relevant information about concerns about the future.Learning about environmental challenges has a contextual character and is relevant to the subjects that make up the school community.In this section, in addition to the items referring to environmental problems, items related to S&T are presented, so that the results emanating from this scale have a direct implication for S&T teaching (Jidesjö, Oskarsson & Westman, 2021) and for environmental education.

My views on science and technology
This category addresses different aspects of how students perceive the role and function of S&T in society.The data can be used to explore students' views on S&T as disciplines, as they relate to poverty, the environment, climate change, and sustainability.
We applied the new ROSES questionnaire using Google forms, where students are asked to express their degree of agreement or disagreement with the items on a four option Likert type scale.A descriptive approach is used to calculate the mean of the responses to each question, which allows a faithful representation of the opinions and attitudes of the participants.Its content obeys a general perspective of S&T and the general concern for the environmental future (Vázquez & Manassero, 2005).10

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The objective of this research was to investigate the attitudes of students in two educational careers towards S&T, current environmental challenges, and the future of our planet.In general, the results of both student samples showed a moderately encouraging picture; namely, slightly more than a half (56%) of the students agree that almost all daily human activities harm the environment, although they only recognize some of the most obvious problems, such as climate change and pollution.This indicates a reduced view of human activities that deteriorate the environment.Fifty-six percent of future educators accept that they can personally influence what happens to the environment; the other half do not know if they can.A little more than a quarter of the young people (28%) agreed that environmental threats are none of their business.Although this is not a very large proportion, it is important, because it implies that they are not visualizing their responsibility towards the environment; therefore, it is necessary to analyze and reflect in a comprehensive manner on the elements involved in environmental problems in order to have a more adequate understanding of them.More than half of the participants (59%) consider that it is necessary for people to be more concerned about protecting the environment, which indicates that there is greater awareness of this problem.On the other hand, the teachers in training (69% of them) agree that it is still possible to solve environmental problems and even more, almost all of them (90%) are willing to do without things to solve environmental problems.Likewise, they are convinced (50% of them) that the environmental problems we are experiencing can be solved without making major changes in our lifestyle; most of the pre-service teachers (88%) are convinced that S&T can solve them and just over half of the young people (56%) consider that these problems should be left to experts and that they are the responsibility of rich countries, which indicates that young people fail to recognize their responsibility in environmental problems and their ignorance of the scope of S&T.
Only half of studens (50%) are optimistic about the future of our world, 41% of them think that environmental problems make it bleak and hopeless and more so now with the emergence of the health emergency.
On the other hand, we used a hypothesis test for the comparison of the mean responses to interpret the information from the ROSES questionnaire, the results of which are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 Environmental challenges and I shows the differences between the attitudes of pedagogy and primary education students and the items of the scale (below).11 Mostly, young people expressed favorable environmental attitudes, which indicates that students are increasingly aware of environmental problems, although they do not know their precise origin and what S&T can really do to solve them.In fact, it is difficult for them to make the relationship between the environment and S&T: they only perceive that they are somehow connected.This concern for the environment enunciated by students with a growing environmental awareness has been reported since several years ago on high school level youth (Schreiner and Sjoberg, 2005;Schreiner, 2006;Tolentino-Neto, 2008;Arbabi, Soltani and Bahonar, 2012).The young teachers express this concern for environmental protection and even more show a good enthusiasm for making a personal effort and sacrificing their comforts to favor the environment, which is a very encouraging outlook for sustainable development in the not-too-distant future.
We found significant differences in items 1, 2, 4, 6. 7 to 11 and 13, where most, except for items 1 and 9, pre-service teachers of primary education expressed more favorable attitudes.Item 1 shows a lower recognition of their environmental responsibility on the part of primary school teachers in training, and this is reinforced in item 9, where it is stated that people should be more concerned about environmental problems.
We also observed that primary school teachers in training see the future less bleak and more optimistically than pedagogy students (items 2 and 12, although item 12 does not show statistical significance).Concerning the future of the world (item 2) the students of pedagogy had very inadequate attitudes, it has been reported that the beliefs that people have about what the future will bring contribute to the meaning given to the present, often actions are directed towards the future that is desired or the future that is thought to come (Bell, 1998as quoted in Schreiner, 2006;Schreiner and Sjoberg, 2005).The images of the future and actions shows the relevance for science and environmental education of conducting studies of young people's images (Hicks, 1996).By knowing young people's images of the future, we can better understand their motivations, decisions, and actions.There are studies that have reported on young people's visions of the future; their findings show both global pessimism and personal optimism about the future of the world, they express hope for improvement; but when they visualize the future of the world, their images are more pessimistic; war, environmental devastation, overpopulation, and hunger are their main global fears, and they expect persistence or aggravation of global problems in the future (Hicks, 1996;Zerihun and Dawit, 2024).Now with the emergence of the COVID19 pandemic, young people's vision of the future is much more discouraging, since they have become aware of the fragility of life, the only thing that provided hope was seeing that vaccination did save lives, but, despite this, they are very fearful about the future (García-Ruiz, 2021).
In this same context, pre-service teachers of primary education showed more favorable and optimistic attitudes than teachers in training, as can be seen in items 4 to 8, although some items did not show statistical significance (items 3, 5 and 8).
Referring to those who should solve environmental problems, such as leaving it to experts or to rich countries, although both groups had favorable attitudes.The elementary education students had more adequate attitudes, which indicates that they are aware of the reality and their environmental responsibility; however, here we find a contradiction with regards to the elementary school teachers, since they first agreed that environmental threats were not their concern.This type of contradictions is not surprising, since what they show is a lack of solid knowledge regarding environmental problems, and the students are not aware of their own contradictions.
This type of contradictions is not surprising, since what they show is a lack of solid knowledge regarding environmental problems, such as the origin of environmental problems and their relationship with S&T, with the economic, political, and social elements involved in these problems.These deficiencies may hinder the development of actions and behaviors favorable towards the environment, and the students are not aware of their own contradictions (García-Ruiz, Maciel, and Vázquez, 2023).
The student teachers have mostly favorable attitudes, although we did find some unfavorable ones that indicate naive attitudes and lack of knowledge about the nature of S&T, as mentioned above.Besides that, they are very fearful of the future that awaits them probably due to the recent pandemic and the country's economic situation (García-Ruiz, 2021).
We found some unfavorable attitudes with regards to the fact that they consider that S&T can solve all environmental problems, as shown in item 3, which, although not significant, does show a slight unfavorable trend that should be paid attention to, since we know that unfortunately this is not the case and that all individuals should contribute to mitigate the ravages of environmental damage.6.We can still find solutions to our environmental problems; 7. People worry too much about environmental problems; 8. Environmental problems can be solved without major changes in the way we live; 9. People should be more concerned about protecting the environment; 10.Solving the world's environmental problems is the responsibility of the rich countries; 11. Environmental problems should be left to the experts; 12. I feel optimistic about the future; 13.All human activities damage the environment; Regarding the scale My opinion on S&T the results are presented in Figure 2.
-4,000 -3,000 -2,000 -1,000 0,000 1. Science and technology are important for society; 2. Science and technology will find cures to diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, etc; 3. Thanks to science and technology, there will be greater opportunities for future generations; 4. Science and technology make our lives healthier, easier and more comfortable; 5. The benefits of science are greater than the harmful effects it could have; 6. Science and technology will help to eradicate poverty and famine in the world; 14.Learning about sustainability is important.
Pedagogy students are clear about the benefits and limits of S&T (items 1-3, 8-10 and 14 with statistically significant changes, except for item 8); attitudes were more favorable when compared with the group of primary school teachers in training, with reference to the relevance of S&T for society (item 1), the need for S&T for a country to develop (item 10), and that thanks to S&T there will be better opportunities for future generations (item 3).

Attitudes
Towards Science, Technology, and Environment: A Look from Higher Education Students Through the Roses Project ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.7 | p.1-19 | e08123 | 2024.9 3.2 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS For this study, we employed items related to two scales: The environmental challenges and Me scale and My opinions about science and technology scale, which consist of 13 and 14 sentences, respectively.The results of the two groups were compared through a Student's t-test (SPSS V.25).

Figure 1
Figure 1This graph shows the comparison of the attitudes of students in training on EnvironmentalChallenges and M.
Figure 2Mean responses of the attitudes towards S&T expressed by the students of the bachelor's degree in pedagogy and the bachelor's degree in elementary education

7.
Science and technology can solve nearly all problems; 8. Science and technology are helping the poor; 9. Science and technology are the cause of the environmental problems; 10.A country needs science and technology to become developed; 11.Science and technology benefit mainly the developed countries; 12.We should always trust what scientists have to say; 13.Scientists are neutral and objective;