Significant environmental impacts such as climate change, reduction in biodiversity, increasing food scarcity, impacts on water supply and availability, and exacerbation of human health problems are occurring and are expected to increase. Despite these environmental challenges the teaching of California's environmental literacy standards, the…

Purpose: As sustainability teaching and learning rises in importance, an increasing number of higher education institutions (HEIs) are assessing the effectiveness of their approach to sustainability education. However, most assessments fall short in determining the impacts of curriculum plans on learning outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to…

Anthropogenic climate change is a scientific fact, but U.S. public discourse around the issue remains mired in controversy, including in education. Our study leverages natural language processing methods to give a precise look into the extent to which climate change-related topics are covered in 30 of the most widely used high school history…

The authors of this article have participated in intensive professional development in the Peruvian Amazon and brought this firsthand experience of the rainforest back to their classrooms. However, the activities presented in this article are designed to be accessible and inspirational to "all students," regardless of whether they or…

A statewide coalition of nearly 50 experts -- including doctors, medical and environmental health researchers, educators, youth and community groups -- worked together to explore the challenges of climate change from the perspective of children's health and education. The insights and recommendations are published in this report. It is presented…

Amid fires, wildfire smoke, extreme heat, and other climate-driven disasters and health hazards, California's leading experts in children's health and education have come together to call for a cost-effective, ten year $150 billion investment to ensure K-12 public schools can remain open and provide safe and healthy places for California's…

Positive motivation to perform work tasks has been associated with better performance and outcomes in both the organizational and informal education literature. In environmental education (EE), this means that more motivated instructors are likely to provide better programs for their participants. In this exploratory study across 15 states in the…

Biomimetic leadership is a pioneering framework viewed through the ecological lens, in which every living system reveals practical applications and sustainable solutions to systemic challenges. Extended office hours and stressful environments have distanced administrators from nature-inspired activities and practices. This mixed methods study…

Not only will young adults bear the brunt of the effects of climate change, but they are also the ones who will be required to take action-to mitigate and to adapt. Framing, as both a theory and an analytic method, has been used to understand how language in the media can affect the audience's concern and intention to act. The theory and the…

Large classes on sustainable development present certain challenges. Often high student to instructor ratios encourage passive learning pedagogies. However, because sustainability education seeks to increase awareness and help students shift to more sustainable behaviors, more active learning is often prescribed by pedagogical experts. This study…

Purpose: Most students report giving little thought to their consumption and waste, and when confronted with issues of sustainability still find them either distant and impersonal or overwhelming. One area that has been relatively unexplored is the concept of a self-audit and self-reflection in the development of intrinsic motivation for living…

With this review of campus sustainability efforts in 2010, the editors aim to give readers--those who are often immersed in the day-to-day particulars of sustainability efforts--the same chance to take a step back and take a broader look at where they stand with sustainability in higher education. This inaugural 2010 Campus Sustainability Review…

Ideal for faculty and administrators looking to blend business education and the liberal arts, this toolkit combines exemplary syllabi from 26 leading institutions with step-by-step strategies to advocate successfully for curricular innovation. Conceived with comprehensiveness in mind, these resources cover both inspiration and implementation for…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) The Greening of Environmental Ed: Teachers Focus on Complexity, Evidence, and Letting Students Draw Their Own Conclusions (Lucy Hood); (2) Like Teacher,…

The United Nations' declaration on climate change education in December 2014 has sparked a renewal of policies and programs initiated during the "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" (DESD, 2005-2014), aimed at promoting awareness, understanding, and civic action for environmental sustainability within learning communities…