Purpose
– The purpose of this study was to design an assessment instrument to evaluate students′ attitudes toward sustainable engineering (SE). Factors that impact SE beliefs could then be explored.
Design/methodology/approach
– Using the definition of sustainability from the Brundtland report and expectancy value theory, students′ sentiment toward SE was evaluated using items to assess SE self-efficacy, SE value and SE affect. The survey was distributed at three diverse universities with 515 responses from students ranging from first year through graduate studies in a variety of engineering majors. The survey instrument was validated using principal components analysis, and internal reliability was established via high Cronbach′s alpha for each construct.
Findings
– Participation in more experiential, enriching learning experiences correlated to higher SE self-efficacy, value and affect. Extracurricular club involvement correlated with a lower self-efficacy but high SE value. Students who had participated in undergraduate research had a high SE self-efficacy, particularly in the environmental and social sub-scales. The students who participated in internships had high SE self-efficacy but lower SE affect. A greater number of volunteer hours correlated with increased SE affect. Female students possessed higher SE value and affect than male students, but self-efficacy was not significantly different. SE self-efficacy increased with academic rank.
Originality/value
– This is the first effort to measure engineering students′ attitudes toward SE using the three sub-scales of expectancy value theory and assessing correlations in these attributes with students′ participation in various learning experiences.
Mobil →
↑ https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2013-0054