Abstract
In an effort to suggest an extended role that art could play in promoting a pro-ecological worldview, this study reviews a two-week artist-led workshop, organized as part of an undergraduate art course offered by a university specializing in engineering and the natural sciences. To explore the potential impact of studio work on engineering student perceptions, we collected data from multiple sources, including field notes, participant observations, outcomes of the group projects, and participants’ responses to studio work during the workshop. In particular, to provide educational implications, our review focused on the findings from post-project surveys collected through online questionnaires and in-person interviews. In order to make suggestions on art courses that are specifically designed to cultivate engineering students’ perceptions of the environment, we carried out online surveys based on the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. The results of the NEP-based surveys indicated that engineering students’ anti-anthropocentrism, rejection of human exceptionalism, and acknowledgement of the possibility of an eco-crisis were significantly correlated with a belief in public welfare. By comparison, respondents’ stronger public welfare beliefs were not associated with beliefs in limits to growth and the fragility of nature’s balance. This study responds to today’s complex socio-environmental issues by contributing to the discussion about the need to integrate interdisciplinary approaches into engineering education on environmental sustainability.
Highlights
The increasingly challenging environmental issues of our time demand that we make fundamental changes to our sociocultural practices
All learning about the potential impact of studio work on engineering student perceptions, artists were informed about the aim of the research, data collection we consider this workshop as an intrinsic case pre-selected for the purpose of our study
Previous studies have noted that all five facets of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) correlate with a general ecological worldview [28,29], our findings indicate distinct divisions in the belief systems of engineering students
Summary
The increasingly challenging environmental issues of our time demand that we make fundamental changes to our sociocultural practices. Criticism over conventional environmental education includes “an attitude of emotional detachment from nature” and “the limited scope and perspective of environmental education in general” [5] For problems in the traditional and measurable result-oriented learning system of environmental education [6], educational researchers have examined how the arts can help individuals to engage with ecological issues, communicate their environmental concerns, and propose creative solutions to environmental challenges, expanding the way in which they approach scientific practices [7,8]. Among the empirical studies that have explored the potential of art in various educational settings, Savva, Trims, and Zachariou [9] demonstrated that artistic activities increased their participants’ emotional engagement and promoted environmental awareness
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