Sustainability Education at the University of Montana

Sustainability education has become increasingly important to prepare the next generation of professionals to address immense challenges such as climate change. Institutions of higher education play a critical role in developing student understanding and views of sustainability through their curricula, specifically in the three pillars of sustainability: ecology, economy, and society. This research paper explores sustainability education at the University of Montana to answer the following questions: (1) To what extent do sustainability-focused and sustainability-inclusive courses at UM include themes or concepts from all three pillars of sustainability; (2) Do courses at the University of Montana impact student understanding, beliefs, attitudes, and intentions about sustainability; and (3) From among the small group of sustainability courses sampled, are students’ understanding, beliefs, attitudes, or intentions impacted by course content? The study collected data in three phases. First, the research examined UM’s 2021 Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Report (STARS) to analyze the distribution of the three pillars across courses. Second, the study assessed curricula from three sustainability courses. Lastly, a survey was administered to students in those three courses at the beginning and end of the fall 2021 semester to measure student understanding, beliefs, attitudes, and intentions. Findings showed that only 18% of course descriptions incorporated all three dimensions of sustainability and curricula varied in topics and activities. The survey results revealed that most students held sustainability beliefs prior to the course which stayed consistent over time. Student understanding and attitudes varied and had the biggest changes from beginning to end of the semester. Currently, there is no standardized assessment tool for examining sustainability curricula internationally or at UM, which made the research process nuanced and difficult. This research suggest that UM needs a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to develop an updated and common framework to guide and assess curricula development so that aspects of sustainability teaching are consistent across campus