Science Process Skills and Environmental Responsibility Among Elementary Pupils: Toward Sustainable Science Learning

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between science process skills and environmental responsibility among elementary pupils in the City of Ilagan, Isabela as basis for strengthening sustainable science learning. Using a predictive-correlational explanatory design, the study assessed pupils’ science process skills in terms of observing, classifying, measuring, inferring, predicting, communicating, and simple investigating, while environmental responsibility was examined in terms of environmental awareness, conservation behavior, waste management practices, participation in environmental activities, and care for living and non-living components of the environment. Data were gathered through a validated researcher-made questionnaire with an overall Cronbach’s alpha of 0.93, indicating excellent reliability. The findings showed that pupils demonstrated a high level of science process skills and a high level of environmental responsibility. However, simple investigating emerged as the weakest science process skill, while participation in environmental activities was the least developed area of environmental responsibility. Spearman’s rho revealed a significant moderate positive relationship between science process skills and environmental responsibility. Ordinal logistic regression further showed that simple investigating, inferring, predicting, observing, classifying, and communicating significantly predicted higher levels of environmental responsibility. These results suggest that pupils who are more capable of applying scientific thinking are also more likely to demonstrate responsible environmental behavior. The study concludes that sustainable science learning may be strengthened by integrating inquiry-based, hands-on, and action-oriented environmental activities in elementary science instruction. It recommends the implementation of school-based environmental projects, pupil-led investigations, and experiential science tasks that connect classroom learning with real environmental practices.