Abstract
Sustainability in ecotourism destinations depends not only on policy and management frameworks but also on the environmental awareness of future stakeholders. This study investigates whether STEAM-based geographic education can enhance students’ sustainability awareness through a school-based intervention that links classroom instruction with an authentic protected-area ecotourism reference system. An 8-week quasi-experimental intervention was conducted with Grade 9 students in Kazakhstan (experimental group n = 45; control group n = 42). The program integrated GIS-based biodiversity mapping, tourist flow modeling, and eco-design projects anchored thematically in the Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve. Results revealed a statistically significant increase in overall sustainability awareness in the experimental group compared to the control group (p < .001), with a large between-group effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.02). Component-level analysis indicated that the intervention produced greater gains in environmental knowledge and behavioral intention than in the affective dimension, suggesting that applied spatial–analytical engagement may help bridge the well-documented knowledge–action gap in environmental education. A regression-based mediation analysis further indicated that spatial–analytical engagement was associated with the relationship between STEAM instruction and sustainability awareness outcomes, consistent with a mediating pathway, although this was not tested with formal bootstrapped indirect-effect procedures. Follow-up testing confirmed medium-term retention of learning effects. By empirically validating this STEAM-based sustainability education model in a protected-area ecotourism context, this study contributes to geography and sustainability education research and provides a transferable framework for integrating protected-area reference systems into secondary curricula in emerging ecotourism regions.