Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Environmental Justice in Higher Education

<p>Research suggests that issues of environmental justice are not being routinely included in the curriculum of the K-12 classroom and that teachers in those grades do not feel prepared to teach it. Likewise, little has been written about the addition of these topics to higher education coursework, leaving the question of inclusion at this level of education as well. This apparent lacuna may point to at least one reason why K-12 teachers are neither knowledgeable about environmental justice nor prepared to teach it. To discover the current state of inclusion in higher education, a mixed methods study was conducted to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of those teaching in one segment of higher education—namely all BA/BS granting undergraduate programs of environmental science and/or environmental studies within the United States. The results from this study suggest that while those teaching in these departments can provide a general description of what environmental justice is, there is much confusion and little agreement about exactly what it encompasses, who it affects, its causes and its solutions. However, responses do indicate that a sizable number of those teaching in these departments believe that environmental justice is an important topic which students should know about. Acting on that belief, most report that they do include environmental justice at some level in courses where the topic fits.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies (Ed.D.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation (open access)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Nussbaum, Marjorie M

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dan Chapman
• Bob Lake
• Laura Meitzner Yoder

• ETD
• Environmental justice
• Education
• Higher education
• Environmental science
• Environmental studies
• Science and Mathematics Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/871

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1878