TY - JOUR
T1 - Mixed method approach to evaluate sustainability thinking among the next generation of civil and environmental engineers
AU - Ozis, Fethiye
AU - Sarikaya, Nihal
AU - Laurent, Roy St
AU - DeVoss, Daniel'le April
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© American Society for Engineering Education 2020.
PY - 2020/6/22
Y1 - 2020/6/22
N2 - Millions of young people, as part of a global movement, raised their voices and called for an urgent action on September 21, 2019. A major concern in educating the next generation of civil and environmental engineers is to not only have them understand and appreciate sustainability as a core aspect of being an engineer, but also take action, at a personal and professional level. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate civil and environmental engineering students' development of sustainability thinking. For this study, knowledge, attitude, perceived responsibility, and activism are defined as indicators of sustainability thinking. Using questionnaires as an instrument, a mixed method convergent-parallel design was employed to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data, concurrently. Over 80% of the students reported that they changed their lifestyle preferences to live more sustainably, because of their learning in the course. Half of the students, who turned their intentions into action, adapted a behavior to conserve water. Although students reported improved awareness, some students identified financial reasons that obstructed their transition to a greener lifestyle. Environmental engineering students expressed greater intent to practice green living, when compared to civil engineering students.
AB - Millions of young people, as part of a global movement, raised their voices and called for an urgent action on September 21, 2019. A major concern in educating the next generation of civil and environmental engineers is to not only have them understand and appreciate sustainability as a core aspect of being an engineer, but also take action, at a personal and professional level. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate civil and environmental engineering students' development of sustainability thinking. For this study, knowledge, attitude, perceived responsibility, and activism are defined as indicators of sustainability thinking. Using questionnaires as an instrument, a mixed method convergent-parallel design was employed to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data, concurrently. Over 80% of the students reported that they changed their lifestyle preferences to live more sustainably, because of their learning in the course. Half of the students, who turned their intentions into action, adapted a behavior to conserve water. Although students reported improved awareness, some students identified financial reasons that obstructed their transition to a greener lifestyle. Environmental engineering students expressed greater intent to practice green living, when compared to civil engineering students.
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M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85095764274
SN - 2153-5965
VL - 2020-June
JO - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
JF - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
M1 - 1023
T2 - 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference, ASEE 2020
Y2 - 22 June 2020 through 26 June 2020
ER -