Investigating the Effectiveness of the Indirect Education Approach Based on Environmental Scratch in the Conservation of Water Resources

Social capacity building and raising awareness on water and environmental problems through education of different groups of people is one of the most fundamental issues that should be considered so that the protection of water and the environment becomes a behavior pattern in society. Among the foundations of participation in the field of water resources and environmental protection, we can mention building cultural capacity, which has a function beyond academic, professional, and human resources training. Many models have been developed to examine the position of behavioral sciences in the field of water resources management, most of them are organized with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) structuring water conservation behaviors, which has been successful in predicting proven behavior and growth and development. The upstream model of this research is also developed through it. Considering that children as the future heirs of resources and students as influential segments of society are of particular importance, so, they should be encouraged to accept the role of protecting water resources in the best possible way. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the psychological factors affecting the behavioral logic and behavioral tendencies of students to participate in water conservation through a socio-psychological model and to investigate the effectiveness of indirect and informal education with an environmental scratch approach.

In this research, the behavior of 90 students in three levels of education, primary, first, and second secondary, as well as 30 selected male and female undergraduate and master's students in Karaj city, about water, was investigated in the two axes of water consumption reduction and water reuse. For this purpose, a questionnaire was designed and prepared based on the defined components of the upstream model including intention, attitude, perceived behavior control, moral norm, understanding of risk, subjective norm, behavior, trust, and habit, and based on the review of international sources and interviews with experts to determine the behavioral logic of the statistical population of the research regarding the aforementioned policy options.

The obtained results showed that the indirect and informal educational programs for water protection have had a positive effect on people's attitudes towards water protection, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, behavioral inclination towards water protection, and moral norms. Also, education in female students has been more effective in the attitude component, but in male students, the level of knowledge and insight about water protection issues in the pre-test has been higher. In addition, education among primary students has been more effective than in first-secondary students.

In designing educational campaigns, it is better to pay attention to the intention of people to save water consumption and then implement this. Also, considering that it seems that the younger the training starts, the better the results. Therefore, special attention should be paid to education at younger ages. In addition, more educational programs should be carried out with an emphasis on indirect and informal education to facilitate water conservation for improving the behavior of water conservation among students.