The Effect of Prior Knowledge Origins on Higher Education Students' Sustainability Knowledge

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 74
  In Roundtable Session: How First-Year Students Navigate Their Environments

Abstract

Knowledge of environmental and sustainability related issues is low amongst American citizens. This finding is unlikely to change in the near future given that higher education students also lack basic environmental and sustainability knowledge. Missing from the literature, though, is an exploration of the extent to which higher education students’ prior knowledge origins influence their sustainability knowledge. Therefore, we explored if where students’ prior knowledge is derived from influences their sustainability knowledge. We found that where students develop their prior knowledge influences their level of sustainability knowledge. In particular, we found that learning about sustainability in the formal classroom and from social networks increases students’ performance on a sustainability knowledge assessment; learning about sustainability from parents decreases students’ performance.

Authors

• Jessica Ostrow Michel, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Adam Zwickle