IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i17p4602-d260573.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using Kolb’s Learning Cycle to Improve Student Sustainability Knowledge

Author

Listed:
  • Mary Katherine Watson

    (Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29409, USA)

  • Joshua Pelkey

    (VMware, Atlanta, GA 30338, USA)

  • Caroline Noyes

    (The University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70718, USA)

  • Michael O. Rodgers

    (The Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA)

Abstract

Engineers are increasingly called upon to develop and implement innovative solutions that serve a growing population, while simultaneously exploiting fewer resources and minimizing environmental impacts. As such, improvements in undergraduate curricula are needed to train students to operate under a sustainable development paradigm. A learning-cycle-based sustainability module was adapted and implemented in a cornerstone design course within a civil engineering program at a large, research-intensive institution in the United States. One cornerstone cohort participated in a peer-lecture version of the module, while the second cohort participated in a peer-discussion version. Concept maps, scored using three different methods, were used to measure changes in students’ sustainability knowledge. A self-report survey was used to measure changes in students’ perceptions of their sustainability knowledge and skills. Students in both the peer-lecture and peer-discussion cohorts demonstrated improved sustainability knowledge networks and confidences after participation in the module. However, peer-lecture students showed greater improvements in knowledge connectedness (a feature of expert-like knowledge) than peer-discussion students. Regardless of cohort, cornerstone students demonstrated greater gains in knowledge and confidence than did a cohort of capstone students who participated in an earlier implementation of the module. Future implementations may be most impactful if the peer-discussion format is integrated into early design courses.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary Katherine Watson & Joshua Pelkey & Caroline Noyes & Michael O. Rodgers, 2019. "Using Kolb’s Learning Cycle to Improve Student Sustainability Knowledge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-19, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:17:p:4602-:d:260573
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/17/4602/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/17/4602/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elise Barrella & Elisabeth Pyburn Spratto & Eric Pappas & Robert Nagel, 2018. "Developing and Validating an Individual Sustainability Instrument with Engineering Students to Motivate Intentional Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-24, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mary Katherine Watson & Elise Barrella & Thomas Wall & Caroline Noyes & Michael Rodgers, 2020. "Comparing Measures of Student Sustainable Design Skills Using a Project-Level Rubric and Surveys," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-15, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eva-Maria Waltner & Werner Rieß & Christoph Mischo, 2019. "Development and Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Student Sustainability Competencies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Daniel Östergren & Ute Walter & Bernt Gustavsson & Inger M. Jonsson, 2023. "Gastronomy: An Overlooked Arena for the Cultivation of Sustainable Meaning?," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-20, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:17:p:4602-:d:260573. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.