STEAM education and environmental ethics awareness among students aged 10-14 from an international perspective: a comparative analysis of cultural and educational philosophy factors

Background Environmental ethics awareness is a key component of sustainability education, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) is often promoted as a lever to foster values-based environmental learning. Cross-national evidence for early adolescents remains limited. Methods We surveyed 283 students aged 10–14 in compulsory education from Portugal, Turkey, and Poland participating in the Erasmus+ “Eco-Maker” project (KA220-SCH). Environmental ethics awareness was measured with a 23-item, four-factor Likert scale (α = .95). We conducted one-sample t tests (vs. the neutral point) and MANOVA to test gender and country differences, complemented by documentary analysis of national curricula and policy frameworks. Results Students in all three countries reported high environmental ethics awareness across the four dimensions (all p