Abstract Since education aims to offer applicable knowledge, studying knowledge–behavior relationship is of key importance in promoting environmental education. But there is scarcity of studies addressing the relationship between knowledge and real behavior choices. We examined the connection between environmental knowledge and behavior (self-reported and measured in an operative way) among 10-12-year-old students, with special focus on the potential mediating role of attitudes. The main research question was whether knowledge (measured with an achievement test) correlates with actual environmental behavior, and how mental accessibility of environmentalism is related to the relationship between knowledge and actual behavior (i.e. choosing a material for completing a manual task). The study with 325 persons revealed that although the positive connection between knowledge and self-reported behavior was fully mediated by environmental attitudes, knowledge was just slightly related to actual behavior, even when the topic of environmentalism appeared before the behavior choice. However, behavior was related to school, suggesting that school-level socialization (beyond the knowledge transfer) is highly influential in forming environmental behavior. The difficulties of studying actual behavior and implications of our findings for practitioners from the field of environmental education are discussed.

中文翻译：

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发光还是不发光？– 青少年的环境知识与他们在手工任务中选择塑料和非塑料材料之间的关系

摘要 由于教育旨在提供适用的知识，因此研究知识-行为关系对于促进环境教育至关重要。但是很少有研究解决知识与真实行为选择之间的关系。我们检查了 10-12 岁学生的环境知识和行为（自我报告和以操作方式测量）之间的联系，特别关注态度的潜在中介作用。主要研究问题是知识（通过成就测试衡量）是否与实际环境行为相关，以及环境主义的心理可及性如何与知识和实际行为（即选择完成手工任务的材料）之间的关系相关。对 325 人的研究表明，尽管知识与自我报告行为之间的正相关完全由环境态度介导，但知识与实际行为仅略有相关，即使在行为选择之前出现了环保主题。然而，行为与学校有关，表明学校层面的社会化（知识转移之外）对环境行为的形成有很大影响。讨论了研究实际行为的困难以及我们的发现对环境教育领域的从业者的影响。然而，行为与学校有关，表明学校层面的社会化（知识转移之外）对环境行为的形成有很大影响。讨论了研究实际行为的困难以及我们的发现对环境教育领域的从业者的影响。然而，行为与学校有关，表明学校层面的社会化（知识转移之外）对环境行为的形成有很大影响。讨论了研究实际行为的困难以及我们的发现对环境教育领域的从业者的影响。