Natural resources in the urban community are very important to support their life. The increase in need is related to the need for clothing, food, shelter, and so forth. The needs are obtained through natural resources exploitation; therefore, the need fulfillment process both directly and indirectly raises environmental pollution problems (Bronfman et al., 2015; Kanchanabhandhu and Woraphong, 2016). One of the efforts to overcome these problems is by properly regulating and managing the environment through environmental preservation by the community including students. The community’s lack of knowledge about the environment, however, results in environmental damage that threatens sustainable life (Bronfman et al., 2015; Goldman et al., 2017).

Environmental Knowledge (EK) is a basic skill to understand various environmental concepts to be implemented in daily life (Kim and Stepchenkova, 2019). Knowledge is a cognitive domain that is very important in shaping human actions through experiences (Chang et al., 2018). Someone with environmental problem knowledge will tend to behave pro-environmental behavior (PEB) because EK can raise concerns and awareness. EK is also able to change one’s lifestyle and behavior into a sustainable society(Polonsky et al., 2012). It becomes a basis for analyzing and solving various existing environmental problems in the neighborhood. The EK skill will be developed into another higher skill, which is Higher Order Thinking Skills to solve problems (Ichsan et al., 2020; Purwanto et al., 2020; Rahmayanti et al., 2020).

Problems occurred in the environment also cause by a lack of public awareness of the environment. Therefore, various parties need to have the awareness to prevent worse natural damage together. Environmental Awareness (EA) is the soul’s awakened state of something, in this case, the environment, and can be seen in the behavior and actions of each individual (Thorburn, 2018). EA is very important for every individual to continue to be able to preserve the environment. Someone with high EA will be more concerned about the environment so that he/she will consider and analyze his/her behavior towards the environment and will form a harmonious and balanced life between all living things.

Pro-environmental behavior (PEB) is an effort to reduce negative impacts that affect the environment and is operationalized as everyday behavior concerning environmental preservation (Tang et al., 2017). PEB is shown by such activities as using recyclable materials, saving energy, using environmentally-friendly transportation, buying and using environmentally-friendly products, carrying out tree planting actions, and joining environmental organizations, especially for urbanites (Truelove and Gillis, 2018). PEB cannot be observed directly; therefore, respondents must perform self-evaluation regarding PEB carried out at a certain time. In addition, they must be provided with a questionnaire containing their routine in performing those activities. Results from the questionnaire calculation can be used as a basis to identify one’s PEB level (Masud et al., 2013). PEB measurement is carried out in both positive tendency behavior and negative tendency behavior; for example, the use of plastic bags despite a policy of banning plastic bag utilization. Students, in this case, have a specific responsibility to maintain the environment, as they are role models for their surrounding communities. Students are also an intellectual group that could encourage various groups in the communities to play roles in overcoming environmental problems(Amaral and Santos, 2018; Ichsan et al., 2020; Sigit et al., 2020). It particularly prevails for students who study Biology science. This is because they learn about living things with discussion focus on their interaction with their environment (Azrai et al., 2019).

Biology students explore the knowledge related to living things and their environment in ecological learning. They are expected to have a high awareness of the environment; with the awareness, a person will be more attentive to the causes of environmental problems and PEB. Creating EA among the people especially students who act as agents of change is the best way because they are future leaders, planners, policymakers, and environmental educators (Raman, 2017; Shamuganathan and Karpudewan, 2015). Therefore, Biology students are expected to be able to apply their knowledge in daily life, which is PEB, and to socialize in the community. Ecological learning has a role to shape students’ behaviors. Ecological learning in this case can be developed with various innovations related to climate change as the latest issue. One of them is a climate change book serial for university students (CCBS-US) as a supplement book. This supplementary book can improve student’s knowledge about the environment (Ichsan et al., 2020). The CCBS-US book serials are an innovation that can be developed for university level. It is suitable to the needs for book serials containing various climate change-related materials. The CCBS-US can serve as a supplement book used by lecturers to complement a variety of teaching materials related to the environmental topics. In turn, CCBS can play a role in improving students’ EK and affects the EA and PEB. Thus, it is necessary to develop CCBS-US. This CCBS-US book will later be adopted for use by students in the Jakarta area. The book series will be used in several courses at the university level, such as ecology, science learning, and environmental education. This book will be registered in copyright and published by the university. The number of books that will be used is 10 books for each semester for the printed series. This book is also available in an e-book version to make it easier for students who do not get the printed version.

Prior to the development of the CCBS-US book, based on several research results it was found that EK greatly influences various aspects of ecological learning(Kinslow et al., 2018). In addition, many studies show that EA and EK are aspects that are the focus to be deeply studied (Cheung et al., 2015; Thorburn, 2018). Research on PEB indicated a lot of PEB profiles and their influencing factors (Watson et al., 2017). Based on this, the novelty formed in this study is a descriptive profile and relation between EEK, EA, and PEB in biology education students. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between EK and EA and the PEB of Biology Students for designing CCBS-US.

This research used a descriptive method with correlational studies. The study used three variables, namely environmental knowledge (X1) and environmental awareness (X2) as independent variables, and pro-environmental behavior as a dependent variable (Y). EK and EA could be a continuous variable since students’ EK and EA measurements will not end in this research. They can be re-measured in terms of their improvement or reduction. The study’s population included students of the Biology Education program of a state university in Jakarta. Data collection was carried out in December 2020–February 2021 at the Biology Education Study Program, Jakarta State University (Universitas Negeri Jakarta). The total respondent were 150 students, included 14 students not suitable to be a sample. The sample was 136 students in the 7th and 5th semesters and was selected by simple random sampling. This sample was chosen from the Jakarta area because students living in the Jakarta area are part of urban communities who need more education related to the environment. The selected sample is biology education students because biology education students will later become teachers and teach at the secondary school level, so they must be provided with good knowledge, attitudes, and environmental behavior. In the study, data collection techniques were obtained through the provision of EK tests and non-test instruments to determine EA and PEB in Biology students. EK test instruments consisted of multiple-choice with five answer choices and open-ended questions. Each correct answer in the multiple-choice item received 1 point while the incorrect answer received 0 points. Each open-ended question had a maximum value of 4, while questions that did not have answers got 0 (zero). EA instrument in this study was a questionnaire using a measuring instrument developed by Partanen-Hertell et al., (1999). A Likert scale was employed consisting of 5 options with a score of 1 – 5 for positive statements: Strongly Agree, Agree, Hesitate, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. The reverse scoring was used for the negative statement items. PEB questionnaire used in the study was measured by a Likert scale consisting of 5 options with a score of 1 – 5. For positive statement items, the options were always, often, sometimes, rarely, and never. The reverse scoring was used for negative statement.

Prior to the distribution of the three measuring instruments to the research subjects, a pilot test was conducted on 35 students of the Biology Education Program, Jakarta State University. The measuring instruments were first tested to acquire valid and reliable instruments. EK instrument that consisted of 22 multiple choices and 4 open-ended questions was valid. EA instrument that consisted of 23 questions was valid. PEB instruments that comprised 28 questions were valid. The valid questions were from the indicators such as understand the relationship between humans and the environment (EK), take action on the use of transportation (EA), and minimize the use of goods that cause waste (PEB). Once the data had been checked and scored, the analysis continued using the SPSS version 24 for the Windows program. The correlation analysis results of the three variables will be taken into consideration for designing CCBS-US. The analyzed data were then entered into several categories started from very high, high, medium, low, and very low as stated by Sigit et al. (2020) in Table 1.

Based on the results of EK, the descriptive data indicated that none of the students (0%) was in the very low and low criteria, medium criteria of three students (2%), high criteria of 28 students (21%), and very high criteria of 105 students (77%). Details of the score are presented in Table 2.

Based on the EA results, it could be seen that students within very low and low criteria were zero (0%), medium criteria were 74 students (55%), high criteria were 59 students (43%), and very high criteria amounted to three students (2%). The detail of the EA score category can be seen in Table 3.

There were four criteria for the value of pro-environmental behavior, 33 students were in a low category (24%), medium criteria with 63 students (46%), high criteria with 39 students (29%), and 1 student at very high criteria (1%). Details of the PEB score can be seen in Table 4.

Descriptive data are also presented in the form of each indicator on EK, EA, and PEB. The results show that the EK score was the highest in the metacognitive thinking indicator. Meanwhile, the highest score for EA was found in the first indicator, which was “have concern for environmental problems”. Then at the PEB, the indicator of “efficient use of energy” was the indicator with the highest score. More details can be seen in Table 5. The table contains a detailed description of EK, EA, and PEB average scores derived for each measured indicator. It aimed to facilitate data description for each indicator to identify the highest indicator.

Based on the results of research and discussion, it can be concluded that there is a positive relationship between EK and PEB of Biology students, between EA and PEB of biology students, and between EK and EA, and PEB of Biology students. Suggestion proposed to improve this research is that it is necessary to hold activities in study groups that can improve the ability of students in recycling activities to reduce waste by recycling recyclable items. Recommendations for future research include the development of the CCBS-US as a form of learning innovation in climate change and the measurement of other variables related to EK. The limitation of this research is that the sample used is only biology education students in the Jakarta area, so this research and learning media that will be developed may only be suitable for students with a background in the natural science program.