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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 March 2023) | Viewed by 26300

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Maria Eduarda Ferreira

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Guest Editor

Research Unit for Inland Development, Polytechnic of Guarda, Avenida Doutor Francisco Sá Carneiro N◦50, 6300-559 Guarda, Portugal
CI&DEI, Centre for Studies in Education and Innovation, Polytechnic of Viseu, Av. Cor. José Maria Vale de Andrade, Campus Politécnico, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal
Interests: environmental education; sustainability; science education; teacher education; teacher training

Prof. Rui Pitarma

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Guest Editor

Research Unit for Inland Development, Polytechnic of Guarda, Avenida Doutor Francisco Sá Carneiro N◦50, 6300-559 Guarda, Portugal
CISE - Electromechatronic Systems Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, Calçada Fonte do Lameiro, 6201-001 Covilhã
Interests: energy; environment; sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Current environmental issues, such as ecosystem deforestation and global climatic change, have led to local and global environmental imbalances, to the point of compromising the present and future of the ecosphere. Human behavior has significant involvement in the breakdown of balance in ecological interrelationships. The environmental impact leaves humanity with troubling challenges, which require a commitment to the search for urgent answers and solutions. Thus, it is urgent to develop competencies to enable the exercise of critical, reflexive, and committed citizenship with pro-environmental awareness and behaviors. Scientific literacy and citizenship are intertwined in the environmental learning, so it is a necessity of society.

It is a motivating educational challenge to engage children and young people in the identification of causes and the search for solutions to current serious environmental problems. It is expected that teacher education will include the development of skills for teachers to be reflective, evaluative, and critical concerning the need of education for sustainable development.

Future teachers need to understand the relevance of the development of valuation and environmental preservation attitudes; these attitudes are the basis of sustainability.

An educational process capable of developing competencies based on respect for sociocultural differences and synchronized with a pro-environmental intervention role could contribute to this need for ecosphere sustainability.

Thus, the educational process is a challenge and needs to be updated permanently. Therefore, it is necessary to debate this subject (for example: What are the best approaches and methodologies?) and also teacher education (for example: (Re)Think and (re)construction of the formative process of future teachers in order to direct the teaching–learning process to real environmental problems and to promote the necessary debate to achieve innovation of pedagogical practices).

Prof. Maria Eduarda Ferreira
Prof. Rui Pitarma
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

Pro-environmental awareness
Pro-environmental behaviors
Education for sustainable development
Citizenship education
Environmental curriculum
Environmental learning
Promoting sustainability
Teacher education
Eco-teacher training

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 529 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Connection, Awareness, and Behaviors in University Students: An Exploratory Portuguese Study

by Ana Torres, Paula Carvalho, Jorge Costa, Claudia Silva, Rosa Marina Afonso, Carla Nascimento and Manuel Loureiro

Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13763; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813763 - 15 Sep 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1843

Abstract

Addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within universities is an urgent necessity. Understanding and measuring the environmental behaviors of university students is an essential initial step in this process. This study had two primary objectives: to translate and adapt the General Ecological Behavior (GEB) Scale for European Portuguese and to provide an exploratory analysis of environmental connection, awareness, and behaviors within a Portuguese university student sample. A convenience sample of 112 university students, aged 18–65, was surveyed using a paper-based, self-report questionnaire. This instrument included sections on sociodemographics, environmental concerns, preferences, and self-report measures (GEB, GAD-7, and PHQ-9). We present the translation and adaptation procedure for the GEB, alongside preliminary findings that suggest acceptable reliability, factorial validity, and discriminant validity. Moreover, exploratory data on environmental connection, awareness, and behaviors are discussed. This study provides a foundational measure for future research into pro-environmental behaviors in the Portuguese context and contributes preliminary insights into the environmental attitudes and behaviors of Portuguese university students. We urge future research to focus on the SDGs, examining factors, measures, and strategies to enhance pro-environmental behaviors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Pro-environmental Awareness and Behaviors in Campus)

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21 pages, 345 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Elementary Teachers’ Environmental Education Cognition and Attitude: A Case Study of the Second Largest City in Taiwan

by Chin-Wen Liao, Yu-Hsiang Liao, Bo-Siang Chen, Ying-Ju Tseng and Wei-Sho Ho

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14480; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114480 - 4 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3248

Abstract

This study aims to explore the perceptions and attitudes of national elementary school teachers toward environmental education to understand the difference between different teachers’ background variables on environmental education cognition and attitude and the correlation between cognition and attitude. This research adopts the questionnaire survey method and takes elementary school teachers from the second largest city in Taiwan, Taichung City, as the research sample. Stratified random sampling was adopted, and 636 questionnaires were distributed. In total, 536 questionnaires were effectively recovered, and the effective recovery rate was 84.27%. The descriptive statistical analysis of sample data, an independent sample T-test, a one-way analysis of variance, Scheffe’s comparison test, and Pearson’s product-difference correlation were used for analysis. The study results are: (1) Elementary school teachers in Taichung City have good environmental education and teaching cognition and environmental issue cognition. (2) The attitudes toward the environmental education of elementary school teachers in Taichung are positive and active. (3) Senior and experienced elementary school teachers in Taichung City have a high awareness of environmental education due to their participation in many workshops and environmental protection activities. Therefore, there are significant differences in the cognition and attitude of environmental education from elementary school teachers. (4) There is a significant correlation between the cognition and attitude of elementary school teachers in Taichung City toward environmental education. This research shows that teachers with more senior teaching experience have better cognition and attitude toward environmental education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Pro-environmental Awareness and Behaviors in Campus)

31 pages, 3996 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating Livability Perceptions: Indicators to Evaluate Livability of a University Campus

by Raghad Almashhour and Fatin Samara

Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 11872; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141911872 - 21 Sep 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2850

Abstract

Livability indicators and assessments are critical to promoting campus sustainability and livability. Despite the various indicator frameworks and local initiatives aimed at attaining sustainability, campus livability assessments in the Middle East are scarce. An extensive literature search was used in this paper to obtain the best livability indicators, and the Delphi method was used to reach consensus using a panel of experts in the fields of sustainability and livability. The determining indicators were identified and categorized according to Environmental Quality, Social and Cultural Elements, Accessibility, Amenities and Services, Safety, Housing, and Other Services. A questionnaire using both qualitative and quantitative questions was used, taking into consideration the perceptions of students, faculty, and staff residing at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) campus in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A score of 87/100 was obtained in this study, indicating that the AUS can be considered a highly livable campus. Responses showed that social and cultural elements, such as social gatherings, availability of restaurants, and children’s activities, were of utmost importance to the respondents. Additionally, services on campus, accessibility, and quality of housing played a major role in respondents’ choices. The index obtained in this study serves as a reference/benchmark for similar and comparative studies of campus livability, and can be adapted to similar scenarios. Moreover, this study opens the doors for future studies to gain deeper insights into the required steps to evaluate the livability of a campus, in order to facilitate future transformation of a traditional campus into a livable campus. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Pro-environmental Awareness and Behaviors in Campus)

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20 pages, 1258 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Awareness and Air Quality: The Mediating Role of Environmental Protective Behaviors

by Shazia Kousar, Muhammad Afzal, Farhan Ahmed and Štefan Bojnec

Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3138; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063138 - 8 Mar 2022

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 13723

Abstract

The purpose of this study is twofold: First, it tests the role of students’ environmental awareness and climate change awareness in their environmental protective behavior and environment quality (EQ). Second, it tests the mediating role of environmental protective behaviors in the association between environment behavior, climate change behavior, and environment quality. Moreover, this study utilizes climate-friendly behaviors and pro-environmental behaviors to reflect environmental protective behaviors. The stratified random sampling technique was applied to collect data through a questionnaire from a sample of 403 graduate students enrolled in Higher Education Commission-recognized private and public universities of Pakistan. This study applied partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to empirically estimate the results. This study found that climate change awareness significantly and positively affects climate-friendly behavior, environmental quality, and pro-environmental behavior. Similarly, environmental awareness significantly and positively affects environmental quality and pro-environmental behavior. Moreover, pro-environmental behavior significantly affects environmental quality. Indirect results indicate that pro-environmental behavior significantly mediates between climate change awareness and environmental quality, and between environmental awareness and environmental quality. The findings of this study suggest the importance of enhancing awareness of climate- and climate change-related issues among students to save the environment. Higher education institutions should design subjects and courses that will raise environmental and climate change awareness, and expose students to climate- and environment-friendly education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Pro-environmental Awareness and Behaviors in Campus)

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14 pages, 619 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integration of Sustainability Awareness in Entrepreneurship Education

by Jane Lu Hsu and Maja Pivec

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4934; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094934 - 28 Apr 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3305

Abstract

Compared to topics such as creativity and strategic implementation in entrepreneurship education, sustainability has not been profoundly emphasized in programs. This study seeks to fill this gap by examining cross-cultural differences between the Austrian and Taiwanese educational contexts in terms of sustainability awareness in entrepreneurship among students in higher education. To conduct the study, students from both Austria and Taiwan were interviewed after developing a procedure to cross-examine their activities in programs, workshops, and team projects. The results indicated that students’ perception of sustainability differed according to sociocultural background: Taiwanese students tended to prefer individual responsibility and action, whereas Austrian students were more aware of the impact of industry and food production on sustainability. Such an approach could help students in both Taiwan and Austria to attain a better understanding of the sustainability problems that require entrepreneurial solutions. The uniqueness of this study lies in its cross-examination and cross-comparisons of sustainability integration in entrepreneurship education in Austria and Taiwan. Such comparisons provide educators and policymakers the opportunity to engage in cross-cultural exchanges of knowledge and experiences from which they can learn and adapt. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Pro-environmental Awareness and Behaviors in Campus)

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