A Peaking and Tailing Approach to Education and Curriculum Renewal for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Abstract:Contextual factors for sustainable development such as population growth, energy, and resource availability and consumption levels, food production yield, and growth in pollution, provide numerous complex and rapidly changing education and training requirements for a variety of professions including engineering. Furthermore, these requirements may not be clearly understood or expressed by designers, governments, professional bodies or the industry. Within this context, this paper focuses on one priority area for greening the economy through sustainable development-improving energy efficiency-and discusses the complexity of capacity building needs for professionals. The paper begins by acknowledging the historical evolution of sustainability considerations, and the complexity embedded in built environment solutions. The authors propose a dual-track approach to building capacity building, with a short-term focus on improvement (i.e., making peaking challenges a priority for postgraduate education), and a long-term focus on transformational innovation (i.e., making tailing challenges a priority for undergraduate education). A case study is provided, of Australian experiences over the last decade with regard to the topic area of energy efficiency. The authors conclude with reflections on implications for the approach.

An Introductory Energy Course to Promote Broad Energy Education for Undergraduate Engineering Students

“…A strong connection to sustainability is critical for any effective energy education program [20][21][22], and the inclusion of sustainability-related content in engineering education has occurred over the past decade with a growing number of institutions starting to address shifting needs and expectations of engineering graduates [23][24][25][26][27][28]. Census data collected in 2012 and 2016 by the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) show a 15% increase over this time period in the number of interdisciplinary environmental, science, and energy (IESE) degrees offered, and a 40% increase in the number of units (departments, divisions, schools, colleges, institutes, or centers) that offer IESE degrees, among the 2327 institutions of higher education (baccalaureate and graduate degree-granting and specialty institutions) in the U.S. [29].…”

Do psychological factors affect green food and beverage behaviour? An application of the theory of planned behaviour

“…Theoretical background and research hypotheses GFB behaviours Whitmarsh and O'Neill (2010) considered that people adopt behaviours that are environmentally friendly; these behaviours are called pro-environmental behaviours, and are also referred to as conservation behaviours, environmentally sustainable behaviours, and responsible environmental behaviours. Green behaviour is primarily a health-related topic that incorporates the topics of sustainability, pollution control, and environmental conservation (Desha and Hargroves, 2014). Therefore, GFBs behaviours concerns applying the concept of environmental conservation to each food management process and increasing emphasis on green food, green production, and green service to provide customers with healthy, safe, and eco-friendly food products (Wang et al, 2013).…”

Systematic curriculum integration of sustainable development using life cycle approaches

“…These steps are in accordance with the general guidance for curriculum renewal suggested (Desha and Hargroves, 2011). The framework is presented in its final version.…”

“…The insufficiency of combining SD activities with existing course content may be one of the aspects causing these gaps (Figueir o and Raufflet, 2015). Eventually, a longer and more substantial important spread of teaching modules is required to cover these gaps (Desha and Hargroves, 2014;Weber et al, 2014). The success of previous integrations was based on the involvement of faculty members in the implementation process (Barth and Rieckmann, 2012), the integration of SD activities throughout several courses of a curriculum (Bielefeldt, 2013;Glendinning et al, 2013;Jollands and Parthasarathy, 2013) and the application of SD concepts in engineering activities (Jollands and Parthasarathy, 2013;Christ et al, 2014;Weber et al, 2014;Sisiopiku, 2015).…”