NATURA MONTENEGRINA, PODGORICA, 7(3): 165-173 THE IMPACT OF ENDEMISM CONCEPT ON ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS Ilker UGULU 1 , Halil AYDIN 1 , Nurettin YOREK 1 , Yunus DOGAN 1 * 1 Buca Faculty of Education, Dokuz Eylul University, 35160 Buca, Izmir–Turkey *E–mail: yunus.dogan@deu.edu.tr Key word: Endemism, Environmental Attitude, Environmental Knowledge SYNOPSIS This study is based on the evaluation of the hypothesis that the more a person knows about the environment the more positive the person’s attitude will be toward the environment. Is this relationship real or assumed? It is assumed that not knowing alone, but being aware of this affluence can improve environmental attitudes of Turkish people. Endemism is one of the most important indicators to evaluate environmental value of an area. In Turkey, the rate of endemism in plant species is relatively high when compared with other European countries. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate whether aware of the concept of endemism, make a positive contribution to Turkish students’ attitudes towards environment. In the study a quasi–experimental design was applied. In the experimental group (N= 30), the developed “Endemism in Turkey” instructional materials and contemporary activity pages were used, while in the control group (N= 30) traditional ecological information were given by using chalk and talk method. “Scale of Attitude Towards Environment” was used as the pre and post tests. Results indicated that although there were no meaningful difference on their attitudes towards environment between two groups at the beginning, according to the post test results, it was obviously seen that students’ attitudes was increased in experimental group. INTRODUCTION Environmental education is importantly needed to prepare environmentally literate students who, as future citizens, would play an active role in protecting the