College Environmental Research Articles

The Impact of College Students' Environmental Education on Green Infrastructure

Education is the process of assisting students in the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, and beliefs. College environmental education allows students to understand the complex systems that make up the environment of college, as well as the impact that students' and teachers' actions have on this. Therefore, this study aims to explore the impact of college student environmental education on green infrastructure while also examining the moderating influence of student satisfaction and student learning. A close-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from college students with the help of a convenience based sampling technique. To achieve the objective of the study data was collected from 370 students from China. Data were analyzed by using smartPLS and SPSS. The SEM-based results indicated that college student environmental education has a significant and positive impact on green infrastructure. Moreover, student satisfaction and student learning moderated the relationship between college student environmental education and green infrastructure respectively. The present study implications strategically guide educational policymakers in implementing green infrastructure by focusing on environmental education, student satisfaction, and student learning.

College environment and basic psychological needs: Predicting academic major satisfaction.

The authors aimed to extend the literature in self-determination theory (SDT) to understand the relations between college environmental variables (faculty and peer support) and academic major satisfaction. The study was disseminated via an online platform to 320 students attending a large midwestern university. Based on SDT, it was hypothesized that student perceptions of their volitional autonomy, competence, and relatedness in their academic major would fully mediate the relations between perceived faculty and peer supports and major satisfaction. This hypothesized model was tested against a partially mediated model and an alternate model that further tested the directionality of the argument. Results from structural equation modeling partially supported the hypotheses. Faculty and peer support, respectively, significantly contributed to students' experience of volitional autonomy in their major (βs = .23 and .39), perceived competence in their major (βs = .31 and .37), and relatedness in their major (βs = .29 and .56). Volitional autonomy in a major fully mediated the relationship between faculty support and major satisfaction (M = .14, SE = .05, p < .01, 95% confidence interval CI [.04, .24]) and the relationship between peer support and academic major satisfaction (M = .22, SE = .02, p < .05, 95% CI [.10, .34]). The hypothesized model was found to be superior than the partially mediated and alternate models. Thus, the authors concluded that SDT is a useful framework for understanding the relationship between faculty and peer supports, psychological needs, and major satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Survey Development to Assess College Students' Perceptions of the Campus Environment.

We developed and tested a College Environmental Perceptions Survey (CEPS) to assess college students' perceptions of the healthfulness of their campus. CEPS was developed in 3 stages: questionnaire development, validity testing, and reliability testing. Questionnaire development was based on an extensive literature review and input from an expert panel to establish content validity. Face validity was established with the target population using cognitive interviews with 100 college students. Concurrent-criterion validity was established with in-depth interviews (N = 30) of college students compared to surveys completed by the same 30 students. Surveys completed by college students from 8 universities (N = 1147) were used to test internal structure (factor analysis) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha). After development and testing, 15 items remained from the original 48 items. A 5-factor solution emerged: physical activity (4 items, α = .635), water (3 items, α = .773), vending (2 items, α = .680), healthy food (2 items, α = .631), and policy (2 items, α = .573). The mean total score for all universities was 62.71 (±11.16) on a 100-point scale. CEPS appears to be a valid and reliable tool for assessing college students' perceptions of their health-related campus environment.

Evaluating Positive Aesthetics

Research Article| October 01 2017 Evaluating Positive Aesthetics Ned Hettinger Ned Hettinger Ned Hettinger is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus at the College of Charleston. His specialization is environmental philosophy, including environmental ethics and aesthetics. His papers have been published in Philosophy and Public Affairs, Environmental Ethics, Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, Environmental Values, and Ethics and the Environment, among other places. A recent paper is “Defending Aesthetic Protectionism” in Philosophy: Environmental Ethics (2017). Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Aesthetic Education (2017) 51 (3): 26–41. https://doi.org/10.5406/jaesteduc.51.3.0026 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Ned Hettinger; Evaluating Positive Aesthetics. Journal of Aesthetic Education 1 January 2017; 51 (3): 26–41. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jaesteduc.51.3.0026 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Aesthetic Education Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2017 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2017 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

College environment, student involvement, and intellectual development: evidence in China

China’s higher education system has been marked by dramatic growth since 1999. In response to calls for quality assurance, substantial efforts have been made to improve collegiate environments and enhance student learning. However, only limited empirical research has been conducted to investigate the effects of the college environment on student gains in the Chinese context. Drawing on data from 1121 students at a prestigious four-year university, this study investigated how college environmental factors (i.e., course challenge, faculty guidance, academic climate, and interpersonal relationships) and student involvement affected students’ intellectual development. The results of the structural equation modeling indicated that academic involvement mediated the relations between college environmental factors and intellectual development. Among the four environmental factors studied, faculty guidance was the strongest predictor of intellectual development. The results highlight the pivotal role of teachers in student involvement and development. Practical implications for the design of college environments conducive to student learning are discussed.

Family and College Environmental Exposures Mediate the Relationship between Parental Education and Depression among College Students.

BackgroundDepression is a major health concern for college students due to its substantial morbidity and mortality. Although low parental education has been identified as a factor in depression in college students, the mechanisms through which parental educational achievement affects students’ depression are not well understood. We tested whether adverse family and college environments mediate the relationship between parental educational level and depression among Chinese college students.MethodsA total of 5180 respondents were selected using a cross-sectional survey. We examined the association of parental education, adverse family and college environments with depression in college students using the Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist, Beck Depression Inventory and socio-demographic questionnaires.ResultsLower parental educational level is significantly correlated with depression in college students in our sample. Additionally, low family economic status, paternal or maternal unemployment, long periods spent apart from family, family conflicts, having been scolded and beaten by parents, poor or dissatisfying test performance, conflict with friends, heavy course load and failure in selection processes are also associated with parental education. Low family economic status, paternal or maternal unemployment, long periods spent apart from family, family conflicts, poor or dissatisfying test performance, conflict with friends and heavy course load mediated the relationship between parental education and depression in college students.ConclusionsAdverse family and college environments could explain the influence of parental educational level on depression in college students.

Supportive College Environment for Meaning Searching and Meaning in Life Among American College Students

We examined whether American college students who perceive their college environment as supportive for their meaning searching report higher levels of meaning in life. We also examined whether students’ perception of college environmental support for meaning searching moderates the relation between the presence of and search for meaning. Students’ perception of college environmental support for meaning searching significantly predicted their presence of meaning in life above and beyond the variance accounted for by searching for meaning and life satisfaction. The relation between the presence of and search for meaning differed by the levels of students’ perception of college environmental support for meaning searching. For students with a lower sense of college environmental support for meaning searching, the presence of meaning decreased as searching for meaning increased. In contrast, for students with a higher sense of support, the presence of meaning increased as searching for meaning increased. The findings suggest that a supportive college environment for meaning searching may promote American college students’ sense of meaning by buffering the potential negative effect of searching for meaning.

Chandler Gilbert Community College Environmental Technology Center: Sustainability Education through Experiential Learning

Chandler Gilbert Community College Environmental Technology Center: Sustainability Education through Experiential Learning

A Virtual Field Trip to the Real World of Cap and Trade: Environmental Economics and the EPA SO2 Allowance Auction

In the spring of 2001, Bates College Environmental Economics classes bought their first sulfur dioxide emissions allowance at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's annual auction, then conducted by the Chicago Board of Trade. In the spring of 2010, they bought their 22nd through 34th allowances. This article describes a three-part method for teaching the theory and practice of tradable pollution allowances or cap and trade. Experiential learning allows for theoretical economic concepts to become engrained in a deeper way via hands-on experience. Assessment through student surveys suggests that students do solidify their knowledge of complex concepts such as discounting and efficient allowance prices with trading via this three-part technique.

Participatory curriculum development: Lessons drawn from teaching environmental education to industry in Zimbabwe

My experience of teaching the Rhodes University/Speciss College Environmental Education Course in Zimbabwe alerted me to a tension between the industry course participants who largely (although not entirely) wanted a skills/vocational training orientation and the course curriculum developers, who wanted a critical/theoretical/praxis-based orientation to the course. This paper is an attempt to offer some resolution of the dilemma this provided the course developers. I begin by briefly describing the tension historically and internationally and giving an outline of Fairclough's (1999) position in its regard. I then suggest that a conventionalist interpretation of the participatory/contextualist method of curriculum development should be avoided, arguing that conventionalism is covertly anti-epistemological in that it leads to the thesis that epistemic standards do not rest on truth/validity claims but on convention (Haack, 1993, p. 20). Thus contextualisation, interpreted as conventionalism, becomes inherently conservative. Instead I suggest an approach to curriculum development based on Haack's (1993, p. 73) explicandum of epistemic justification: 'A is more/less justified, at time t, in believing that p, depending on …'. Thus, if there is good enough (note: not absolute) evidence to disagree with the community's construction of what the best curriculum should be, provided we can demonstrate our disagreement with intellectual integrity, then it is appropriate to go against the grain of the majority of the community's construction of its curriculum needs (in this case, the call for skills-based training), and instead attend to the requirements of a minority of the community.

Lead contamination of UK dusts and soils and implications for childhood exposure: An overview of the work of the Environmental Geochemistry Research Group, Imperial College, London, England 1981–1992

Over the course of the last decade, research conducted by the Imperial College Environmental Geochemistry Research Group has focused on the nature and effects of lead in UK dusts and soils. An initial nationwide reconnaissance survey demonstrated that approximately 10% of the population is exposed to lead levels in excess of 2,000 μg g(-1) in house-hold dust. Subsequent exposure studies revealed that for 2 year old children in the UK urban environment, approximately 50% of lead intake was from dust ingested as a result of hand-to-mouth activity. Follow-up computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM) analysis of urban household dust and particulate material wiped from children's hands showed that important sources of dust lead include lead-based paint, road dust and soils. CCSEM identification of specific soil lead tracer particles (from minewaste contaminated soils) in dusts and on children's hands further documented the important role of soil as a source of exposure. Speciation studies of soil lead of this origin indicated that the form of the lead, which is largely influenced by the soil environment, is the primary control on bioavailability. It appears that although lead of minewaste origin may be present at elevated levels in dusts and soils, it does not necessarily contribute to elevated blood lead levels when the lead is present in relatively insoluble form.

The Third Prescott College Environmental Award Barry Lopez: A Writer Who Travels

The Third Prescott College Environmental Award Barry Lopez: A Writer Who Travels Suzanne Pederson Suzanne Pederson Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Volume 1, Issue 2, Fall 1993, Pages 153–160, https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/1.2.153 Published: 01 October 1993

College Environmental Influences on Students' Educational Aspirations

dence pertaining to the outcomes of higher education, Bowen [12] concludes that educational attainment is positively associated with a range of important individual and societal benefits (e.g., cognitive learning, economic productivity, public service). Similar conclusions have been drawn by Blau and Duncan [11]. Not surprisingly, then, the factors influencing educational attainment, or educational aspirations, have been the focus of a rather large body of research. The majority of this research has focused on the educational aspirations of secondary school students [e.g., 13, 20, 22, 24, 27, 31]. Somewhat less attention has been paid to identifying the factors influencing the educational aspirations of college students. Within the second area of inquiry, the major focus has been on identifying those structural and environmental characteristics of colleges and universities that foster students' aspirations to seek advanced academic training. The earliest investigations by Thistlethwaite [28, 29] of high-ability students suggested a number of different college environmental dimensions (e.g., curricular flexibility, informality and warmth of student-faculty contact, challenging courses) that were associated with aspirations to obtain doctoral degrees. Reanalysis of this data by Astin [2, 3], however, indicated the possibility that a considerable number of these associations were coincidences from uncontrolled differences in students' input characteristics. Several additional studies [5, 4, 30] based largely on samples of talented undergraduate students have, in fact, suggested differential institutional influences on student

College Environmental Influences on Students' Educational Aspirations

College Environmental Influences on Students' Educational Aspirations

Effects of Peer-Advising on Changes in Freshman Perceptions of Their College Environment

AbstractAn experimental peer-advising program was used to test the hypothesis that the peer group effect is a major influence on the characteristic shift which occurs in the early college environmental perceptions of incoming college freshmen. Two matched groups of 51 peer- and 51 faculty-advised freshmen were administered Stern's College Characteristics Index on a five-month pre- and posttest basis, and results supporting the hypothesis were found on two of the 11 CCI factors. Possible reasons for these results, along with methodological problems in this type of research, are discussed.

College Environments and Student Academic Achievement

In this study, selected aspects of the college environment were related to student academic achievement at 27 small liberal arts colleges. Academic achievement was measured by senior students' scores on the Area Tests of the Graduate Record Examination; the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Verbal and Mathematics) scores of these same students prior to college entrance were used as a control measure for differences in initial aptitude. The colleges' social and academic environment were assessed through students' perceptions and included five scales describing the extent of faculty-student interaction, student activism, curriculum flexibility, academic challenge, and the colleges' cultural facilities. All but the Activism scale were related to student over or underachievement on one or more of the three Area Tests (Humanities, Natural Science, Social Science). In particular, students at colleges with high scores on the Faculty-Student Interaction scale more often overachieved on two of the criteria tests, while students at colleges with low scores on this scale underachieved on all three of the tests. The results suggest that certain student-described college environmental features are related to academic achievement, although replication with another group of colleges would be desirable.

COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTS AND STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

ABSTRACTIn this study, selected aspects of the college environment were related to student academic achievement at 27 small liberal arts colleges. Academic achievement was measured by senior students' scores on the Area Tests of the Graduate Record Examination; the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Verbal and Mathematics) scores of these same students prior to college entrance were used as a control measure for differences in initial aptitude. The colleges' social and academic environment were assessed through students' perceptions and included five scales describing the extent of faculty‐student interaction, student activism, curriculum flexibility, academic challenge, and the colleges' cultural facilities. All but the Activism scale were related to student over or underachievement on one or more of the three Area Tests (Humanities, Natural Science, Social Science). In particular, students at colleges with high scores on the Faculty‐Student Interaction scale more often overachieved on two of the criteria tests, while students at colleges with low scores on this scale underachieved on all three of the tests. The results suggest that certain student‐described college environmental features are related to academic achievement, although replication with another group of colleges would be desirable.