Education for sustainability

Courses which are intended to help students learn 'attitudes' or ways of thinking, as well as or instead of the more common 'knowledge' and 'skills,' are notoriously difficult to get right-particularly for younger students. Most courses relating to environmental issues or sustainability are electives within general science or engineering programs or they are within specialized environmental degree programs. In this paper, we examine two compulsory core courses designed to help students develop an appreciation of sustainability of the environment, one within a common first-year program of 600 students and one within a second-year geological engineering program of 35 students. In the first-year course, the sustainability component is situated within a course on 'Professional Skills,' which is taught in an innovative week-long intensive module. Students in this course have difficulties with the teaching and learning approach as much as with the subject matter. In the second-year course the main focus is on sustainability and the environment, taught using enquiry-based learning, a similar, interactive, innovative approach. In this course students respond much better to the concepts and appear to enhance or transform their perspectives. Students may be considered to pass through a 'threshold! We examine the factors which seem to prevent students from passing through the threshold and consider possible strategies for aiding the pathway.