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Evaluating an Educational Intervention Designed to Foster Environmental Citizenship among Undergraduate University Students

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Listed:
  • Audronė Telešienė

    (Civil Society and Sustainability Research Group, Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Kaunas University of Technology, 44249 Kaunas, Lithuania)

  • Jelle Boeve-de Pauw

    (Belgium & Expertise Centre Urban Education, Research Unit Edubron, Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
    Department of Teacher Training, Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium)

  • Daphne Goldman

    (Department of Environmental Science and Agriculture, Faculty of Education, Beit Berl College, Kfar Saba 44905, Israel)

  • Ralph Hansmann

    (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland)

Abstract

Taking its primary interest in active environmental citizenship, this paper aims at evaluating a case of an educational intervention designed to foster environmental citizenship among undergraduate students at a technological university. The study employs a survey methodology implementing a recently validated environmental citizenship questionnaire. A randomized pre-group –post-group quasi-experimental survey design explores students’ environmental citizenship attributes before and after the intervention course, ‘Sustainable Development’, in comparison to students who participated in a general elective course, ‘Media Philosophy’. The results show that the participation in the intervention course induced positive change in students’ environmental citizenship in comparison to the control group. Additional analysis indicates that environmental citizenship is significantly related to environmental attitudes, nature experiences during childhood and adolescence, and gender. The article provides a timely contribution shedding light on how specific pedagogical approaches in higher education can foster environmental citizenship.

Suggested Citation

  • Audronė Telešienė & Jelle Boeve-de Pauw & Daphne Goldman & Ralph Hansmann, 2021. "Evaluating an Educational Intervention Designed to Foster Environmental Citizenship among Undergraduate University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8219-:d:599795
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Angela Yi Jing Tsai & Alex Yong Kwang Tan, 2022. "Analysis of Undergraduates’ Environmentally Friendly Behavior: Case Study of Tzu Chi University Environmental Education Program," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Mykolas Simas Poškus, 2022. "Toward the Development and Validation of a Model of Environmental Citizenship of Young Adults," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-15, March.

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