An Exploration of the Relationship between Sustainability-Related Involvement and Learning in Higher Education

Henderson, Trevion S.; Michel, Jessica O.; Bryan, Alex; Canosa, Emily; Gamalski, Clara; Jones, Kelly; Moghtader, Jeremy

doi:10.3390/su14095506

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An Exploration of the Relationship between Sustainability-Related Involvement and Learning in Higher Education

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Jeremy Moghtader

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Mechanical Engineering and STEM Education, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA

School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

Student Life Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

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Sustainable Living Experience, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

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Graham Sustainability Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, USA

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U-M Campus Farm at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, USA

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Academic Editor: Marc A. Rosen

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5506; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095506

Received: 1 January 2022 / Revised: 7 April 2022 / Accepted: 26 April 2022 / Published: 4 May 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Pedagogies for Cultivating Leadership amidst the Climate Change Crisis)

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Abstract

Higher education institutions are charged with developing civically engaged leaders to address the pressing issues facing the country and the world. While existing literature suggests institutional practices, such as promoting co-curricular involvement, hold promise for fostering key learning outcomes, educational literature suggests the benefits of participation may not be shared by all students. Using structural equation modeling, we examine the role of background characteristics (i.e., race/ethnicity and gender) and co-curricular participation in sustainability-related activities in fostering climate change leadership development and sustainability activism. We find that women reported significantly higher systems thinking, futures thinking, leadership development, and activism. Additionally, our results suggest systems thinking and futures thinking are key learning outcomes related to students’ climate change leadership development and activism. Moreover, we find a small negative relationship between sustainability literacy and leadership development and activism, suggesting there might exist an inflection point at which more knowledge about climate change and sustainability issues makes students less likely to engage in leadership and activism behaviors. We discuss the implications of this work for sustainability education pedagogy in higher education. View Full-Text

Keywords: leadership development; activism; co-curricular involvement

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Henderson, T.S.; Michel, J.O.; Bryan, A.; Canosa, E.; Gamalski, C.; Jones, K.; Moghtader, J. An Exploration of the Relationship between Sustainability-Related Involvement and Learning in Higher Education. Sustainability 2022, 14, 5506. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095506

AMA Style

Henderson TS, Michel JO, Bryan A, Canosa E, Gamalski C, Jones K, Moghtader J. An Exploration of the Relationship between Sustainability-Related Involvement and Learning in Higher Education. Sustainability. 2022; 14(9):5506. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095506

Chicago/Turabian Style

Henderson, Trevion S., Jessica O. Michel, Alex Bryan, Emily Canosa, Clara Gamalski, Kelly Jones, and Jeremy Moghtader. 2022. "An Exploration of the Relationship between Sustainability-Related Involvement and Learning in Higher Education" Sustainability 14, no. 9: 5506. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095506

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Author Biographies

Jessica O. Michel

Jessica Ostrow Michel is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. She earned her Doctor of Education, Master of Education, and Master of Arts degrees in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Interpersonal/Intercultural Communication, Spanish, and Linguistics from the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. Her scholarship assesses students’ learning around sustainability and environmental justice. She has previously edited a special topics journal on teaching and learning about sustainability in higher education for New Directions for Teaching and Learning. Her recent research has been published in Innovative Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, and Sustainability Science. She holds memberships in numerous associations including the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS), the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), and the Global Council for Science and the Environment (GCSE).

Alex Bryan

Alex Bryan is the Sustainability Programs Manager for Student Life at the University of Michigan and he holds a B.A. in English ('07) from the University of Michigan. He has worked primarily in community organizing, food insecurity, sustainability, and sustainable agriculture and was formerly the Director of Agricultural Programs at the Greater Lansing Food Bank. Alex co-founded a 4-acre urban farm in the city of Detroit, Food Field, and has served on various national non-profit boards, including National Young Farmers Coalition. His research interests are in sustainability and sustainable agriculture, particularly experiential learning and community-engaged or participatory research.

Emily Canosa

Emily Canosa is Assistant Director of the Sustainable Living Experience residential learning community at the University of Michigan (U-M). She has worked in environmental education and taught in higher education for more than ten years, with organizations including the U-M Sustainable Food Program, Brown Environmental Leadership Lab, the College for Creative Studies, and Edible Avalon. Canosa completed undergraduate degrees at the University of Michigan in 2007 with highest honors in Arts & Ideas in the Humanities and in History of Art. She completed a Master’s degree at the U-M in Japanese Studies in 2011 with a thesis on sustainable food movements in the Kanto region. Her research interests include sustainability education, with an emphasis on environmental justice and learning design and technology. Canosa is also a member of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences and the American Public Gardens Association.

Clara Gamalski

Clara Gamalski, Sustainability Specialist, coordinates two applied learning programs in Student Life at U-M Ann Arbor. She received her B.A from U-M Ann Arbor in 2011 and an M.A. in Food Studies from Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA in 2016. She has more than six years of experience working in sustainability and food justice education and engagement at higher education institutions, focusing on experiential pedagogy and student leadership for social change. She represents the Colleges and Universities sector on the Detroit Food Policy Council and participated in a year-long fellowship with the Detroit Equity Action Lab, a project of Wayne State University’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights.

Kelly Jones

Kelly Jones is the Planet Blue Ambassador Program Coordinator at the University of Michigan. Kelly received a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in 2012, and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University in 2010. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, she worked for Environmental Defense Fund in their Corporate Partnerships division. Her academic interests lie at the intersection of sustainability, psychology, and education and helping individuals learn about and practice more sustainable behaviors.

Jeremy Moghtader

Jeremy Koushyar Moghtader is the Program Manager for the University of Michigan Campus Farm at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum. He has a Bachelors of Science in Economics from the University of Michigan (1998) and a Masters of Science in Resource Ecology and Management from the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (2004). Prior to joining U-M in 2016, Jeremy was the Farm Manager and Director of Programs for the Michigan State University Student Organic Farm for 12 years. His work and research interests then and now revolve around facilitating high-impact and authentic teaching and learning experiences that help develop students as leaders and agents of change in sustainable food systems. Jeremy is a Member of the Sustainable Agriculture Education Association (SAEA) and a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow award winner.

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An Exploration of the Relationship between Sustainability-Related Involvement and Learning in Higher Education

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