Evaluating STEM-Based Sustainability Understanding: A Cognitive Mapping Approach

Management education holds promise for addressing deficiencies in interuniversity science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as sustainability curricula. Accordingly, we designed, developed, implemented, and longitudinally evaluated interdisciplinary STEM-based curricula in the United States. Students in five sections of business management courses and two sections of STEM courses received a STEM-based sustainability intervention (i.e., an interdisciplinary STEM and sustainability module). To assess student outcomes following the intervention and examine the feasibility of cognitive mapping as a student learning assessment tool, we implemented a pre- and post-course modified cognitive mapping assessment in treatment and comparison courses. To interpret the results, we ran descriptives, correlations, paired sample t tests, and principal component analysis. The t tests suggest that when all coding categories are considered, those participating in curricular interventions listed significantly more sustainability terms. The principal component analysis results demonstrate that treatment courses improved variability explained by 7.23% between pre- and post-tests but declined by 8.22% for comparison courses. Overall, linkages became stronger between parent code categories for treatment courses and weaker for comparison courses. These findings add to existing research related to cognitive mapping and demonstrate the ability of the method to capture changes in student outcomes after exposure to STEM-based sustainability curriculum.

Advancing Sustainability Education in Business Studies through Digital Service Learning

To support the development of a society that is attuned to the challenges presented by sustainable development, it is vital that higher education business students understand the value of sustainability, and act in a way that is consistent with these values. This paper explores a sustainability-focused experiential learning activity through investigating the utility of an emerging form of service learning in the digital space for developing global citizens. The paper presents an international case study of educators who employed digital service learning in various business education contexts. The research reports on the perceptions of higher education students in relation to their awareness, critical thinking and action for sustainability. The paper has practical contributions in identifying an opportunity for implementing sustainability curriculum into higher education for business.

The Story of 13 Moons: Developing an Environmental Health and Sustainability Curriculum Founded on Indigenous First Foods and Technologies

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community developed an informal environmental health and sustainability (EHS) curriculum based on Swinomish beliefs and practices. EHS programs developed and implemented by Indigenous communities are extremely scarce. The mainstream view of EHS does not do justice to how many Indigenous peoples define EHS as reciprocal relationships between people, nonhuman beings, homelands, air, and waters. The curriculum provides an alternative informal educational platform for teaching science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) using identification, harvest, and preparation activities of First Foods and medicines that are important to community members in order to increase awareness and understanding of local EHS issues. The curriculum, called 13 Moons, is founded on a set of guiding principles which may be useful for other Indigenous communities seeking to develop their own curricula.

A basic content proposal on sustainability for management undergraduate courses

This paper aims to propose a basic content for teaching sustainability in undergraduate Management programs, covering a range of topics considered as critical for future professionals’ background. Although the existence of several studies on how to incorporate sustainability in higher education, just a few focus on “what” is to be taught, which is the focus of this paper. This exploratory study had two stages. First, a survey of the professional demands regarding sustainability by organizations was carried out, according to specialists. Secondly, we researched the knowledge in sustainability by undergraduate Management students from a recognised university in Brazil. Data analysis was based on exploratory factor analysis. The research presented 38 sustainability topics split into three major subjects organized according to their content to structure a core sustainability curriculum as an initial proposal. This proposal is not a set of unrelated subjects, disconnected from the context of the course, but complementary. Despite the barriers to the inclusion of sustainability in universities, particularly in countries with problems in education, instructors, and academic managers can use a basic content as we propose as a starting point to embed sustainability into students’ background, and consequently leading to wider sustainable impacts on society.

Sustainability Infused across the Curriculum at a Minority Serving Liberal Arts Institution: A Case Study

A critical challenge facing institutions of higher education is the integration of a sustainable energy curriculum into interdisciplinary education. This case study will evaluate the campus-wide development, adoption, and evaluation of an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary sustainability education, at a small liberal arts college. The process and outcomes of the development of this sustainability curriculum are reported. The efficacy of the development and adoption of the curriculum was assessed by student surveys and faculty interviews. The interview results indicated substantial faculty interest and approval of implementing sustainability education at the institution. Survey results reveal an increased interest in pursuing studies and careers in sustainability and energy among students. Upon the completion of the study it was concluded that the sustainability initiative was successfully developed and infused at a historically black college and university (HBCU). The implications of this study advance the importance of incorporating sustainability education within all academic disciplines throughout a minority-serving, small, liberal arts college to increase the presence of African Americans in future careers in energy, green jobs or energy policy/economics.