Sustainability Education Can Shift Students' Views of Social Change

More institutions of higher learning are adding interdisciplinary sustainability education programs. This study explores how one such program altered students' views of social change. Socially constructed systems are an important component of social change. These systems include cultural norms, like everyday habits or lifestyle choices, as well as institutional structures, like laws and school policies. Another component of social change is the concept of agency, which is an individual's perspective on how one can affect change. The author of this study analyzed participants' views of agency and how they conceptualize ways to affect change for sustainability.

Many theories exist around how individuals or groups might become agents of change. The author defines agency as how individuals or groups work to change the broader context within which they are situated. Some theories emphasize the role of structure in creating social change—that change cannot take place without large-scale collective action. Other theories privilege the individual as a change-maker and stress personal choice and responsibility. Yet other theories take both the individual and the broader social structure into consideration, and believe that both the individual and collective have roles to play when affecting change. Within sustainability education, research suggests that existing systems both present barriers to and facilitate individuals seeking to make a change, and that attention to context is important. Lastly, the Mennonite culture has a history of pacifism and retreating from oppressive systems rather than working to change them. In recent decades, however, some Mennonites have become more politically and socially engaged in the US, even participating in activism and protests.

The study took place at a Mennonite university in the Midwestern United States. Six undergraduate students who completed an immersive Sustainability Semester in Residence (SSR) at a remote field station participated in this research. All but one of the students identified as Mennonite, and four of the students were majoring in environmental science. During the SSR, the participants lived, studied, gardened, and cooked together. The author interviewed the participants immediately before the SSR, immediately after, one year later, and two years later. The author also observed the students during their time at the field station, as well as collected instructional materials from the course. The author analyzed these data together for themes.

The author concludes that the SSR facilitated students' ability to critically analyze their own views of social change and to consider different models of change to achieve sustainability. The findings indicate that participants' views on agency and social change evolved over time. Before the SSR, most participants' perspectives on social change centered on individual agency. Their ideas reflected a model known as the “ripple effect,” in which a series of individual actions develops into change on a broader scale. Two years after the SSR, the students' views reflected a more complex understanding of systems. Their perspectives still included individual agency, but they also spoke about connections to broader systems and the concept of change at different levels. The results suggest that the students improved their ability to identify socially constructed systems.

The small, homogenous sample of participants in this study and its specific context limit the interpretation of the results. Most of the students were raised as Mennonites, whose unique history of peaceful social activism may have influenced the students' views. The author also acknowledges some potential for bias due to her own personal relationship with the Mennonite community.

The author recommends that sustainability education curricula encourage students to reflect on the contextual factors that influence their perspective on social change. The author also suggests that educators incorporate lessons to help students understand broader structures that impact their ability to affect change. This study provides an example of how sustainability education can help students develop more nuanced perspectives on broader issues and improve their ability to analyze interconnected systems.