MEASURING SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY: AN INITIAL ANALYSISHeather Hodges & Aaron Sparks

with Colin Kuehl, Katie Maynard, Noelle Nasif, and Eric SmithUC Santa Barbara

Objective

Our Goal To build a valid and reliable measure of college

students’ understanding of sustainability

The Process Question development and testing Statistical analysis Request for input (

https://ucsbltsc.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_cPeG46gSmo2MuQ5 )

Why?

A research tool Does a Sustainability GE make a difference

in measurable knowledge? If a major (eg: English) develops an

environmental theme, does it affect their knowledge of sustainability?

Does greater knowledge influence other environmental attitudes?

Bonus: it counts toward UCSB’s green campus rating

Two possible approaches

Decide what people should know Study the issue, decide what students

should know at different levels Similar to Common Core

Discover what people know by measuring existing knowledge This is our approach

What is sustainability?

Core concepts Natural resources Ecology Economics Social equity Climate change Public policies College policies

Our questionnaire

135 questions Across a range of aspects of sustainability

Start with a large number and then narrow We solicited advice on the questions from

faculty, staff, and graduate students at UCSB

Additional set of questions to validate our measures

Administered in two undergraduate classes

Example questions

A group of fishing boat owners share equal access to a common fishing area and are dependent upon it for their livelihoods. For each individual, it is economically rational to: a. Limit the number of fish he or she catches to ensure there will be fish to catch in the futureb. Catch all the fish he or she can to maximize the profit.c. Limit the number of fish he or she catches to ensure there everyone gets an equal shared. Catch all the fish he or she can to eliminate the competition

Example questions

Climate means the average weather conditions in a region. (T/F)

Would a policy that would encourage people to eat more organic and healthy meals help make their communities more sustainable, less sustainable, or make no difference one way or the other?

What do most scientists believe is the maximum ppm for atmospheric CO2 if we wish to stabilize the Earth’s temperature in the long term? a. 275 ppmb. 350 ppm c. 400 ppm d. 450 ppm

Factor analysis

Factor analysis assumes that there are one or more unobserved variables which cause observed variables

Math Knowledg

e

Algebra

A

B

C

D

Geometry

Factor analysis

Sustainability Literacy

Question 1?

Question 2 ?

Question 3 ?

Scree plot

Initial findings

No clean single factor, but a dominant factor with a few more

The test needs refining, but basically works

Environ-

mental

Justice

Econ Q1

Social Equity Q1

Climate Change Q1

Scarcity

Energy and

Climate Change

Core Q6

Social Equity Q2

Climate Change Q1

Sustainability Literacy

Summary

Findings Generally in Line with Theoretical Expectations

Unrepresentative Sample Social science focused; need natural

science and humanities students

Input?

You can help https://ucsbltsc.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_cPeG

46gSmo2MuQ5

As experts help us rate the questions or add your own

Questions?

Results

PA1 PA3 PA2 PA5 PA7 PA4 PA6

q15 -0.41 0 0.34 -0.18 -0.1 -0.11 -0.09

q22 -0.39 0.05 0.02 0.17 0.3 0.2 0.17

q29 -0.25 0.36 0.07 0.02 -0.16 -0.14 0.03

q27 -0.17 0.11 0.09 0.14 0.45 -0.07 -0.2

q5 -0.13 0.01 0.23 0.41 0.04 -0.12 -0.26

q30 -0.12 0.08 0.08 0.02 0.29 -0.03 0.31

q40 -0.11 -0.05 0.03 0.01 -0.14 -0.03 0.58