College and University Environmental Programs as a Policy Problem (Part 1): Integrating Knowledge, Education, and Action for a Better World?

Abstract

The environmental sciences/studies movement, with more than 1000 programs at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, is unified by a common interest-ameliorating environmental problems through empirical enquiry and analytic judgment. Unfortunately, environmental programs have struggled in their efforts to integrate knowledge across disciplines and educate students to become sound problem solvers and leaders. We examine the environmental program movement as a policy problem, looking at overall goals, mapping trends in relation to those goals, identifying the underlying factors contributing to trends, and projecting the future. We argue that despite its shared common interest, the environmental program movement is disparate and fragmented by goal ambiguity, positivistic disciplinary approaches, and poorly rationalized curricula, pedagogies, and educational philosophies. We discuss these challenges and the nature of the changes that are needed in order to overcome them. In a subsequent article (Part 2) we propose specific strategies for improvement.

Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation

“…; Welch‐Devine & Campbell ; Christie ; Clark et al. ; Moon & Blackman ). We summarize the barriers to social science mainstreaming under the following 4 categories: ideological barriers, institutional barriers, knowledge barriers, and capacity barriers (Fig.…”

Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation

“…We draw from the results of a focus-group workshop on the conservation social sciences at the North American Congress for Conservation Biology in 2014 and the literature on interdisciplinary research (e.g., Fox et al 2006;Welch-Devine & Campbell 2010;Christie 2011;Clark et al 2011;Moon & Blackman 2014). We summarize the barriers to social science mainstreaming under the following 4 categories: ideological barriers, institutional barriers, knowledge barriers, and capacity barriers (Fig.…”

I am the Paradigm Shift Theory: Explaining Students’ Sustainability Outcome Comprehension Experience

“…Researchers in efficacy of the liberal arts and sustainability education [34,35] have expressed the need for descriptive theory to guide further research and development of educational approaches to sustainability. Understanding students' comprehension experience of sustainability outcomes is important, as individuals possessing these outcomes will be more capable to effectively address sustainability problems in context [20,36,37]. Therefore limited understanding of students' comprehension experience of sustainability is a problem and the need for theory describing this experience is a gap that must be filled.…”