Higher Education Commons^™

Eating Change: A Critical Autoethnography Of Community Gardening And Social Identity, Jessica Gerrior

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Community gardening efforts often carry a social purpose, such as building climate resilience, alleviating hunger, or promoting food justice. Meanwhile, the identities and motivations of community gardeners reflect both personal stories and broader social narratives. The involvement of universities in community gardening projects introduces an additional dimension of power and privilege that is underexplored in scholarly literature. This research uses critical autoethnography to explore the relationship of community gardening and social identity. Guided by Chang (2008) and Anderson and Glass-Coffin (2013), a systematic, reflexive process of meaning-making was used to compose three autoethnographic accounts. Each autoethnography draws on the author’s …

Exploring The Potential Of Online Education And College Students' Connection To Nature, Michael Weinstein

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There is limited research examining the efficacy of online delivery for experiential, field-based, interdisciplinary coursework in environmental education geared towards undergraduate students, and how connection to nature can be understood through the theory of emerging adulthood. This research employed a convergent mixed methods approach to explore the experiences of 11 undergraduate students enrolled in an online, introductory ecology course, and how their experience of connection to nature was influenced through the course, technology-mediated nature embedded within the course, and how their identities as emerging adults were impacted by their connection to nature. Quantitative methods employed included pre/post surveys, while qualitative …

Emotional Response To Climate Change Learning: An Existential Inquiry, Jennifer Hutchinson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study aims to explore and explain the existential underpinnings of learning about climate change and potential emotional responses to climate change learning. Undergraduate students in environmental sciences and studies classes at the University of Washingrounded theory on in Seattle, WA participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants were asked about their experiences learning about climate change and how they responded emotionally to the learning. This dissertation examines the responses from those interviews and builds a theory out of the data analyzed. Constructivist Grounded theory as outlined by Kathy Charmaz (2014) was used to analyze the interviews. Codes were created and …

Emergence: Developing Worldview In The Environmental Humanities, Rhonda D. Davis

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

While the environment has long played a role in humanistic expressions and investigations, the need for a more integrated look at the human-environment relationship has become ever more pressing. More than ever, humanities scholars are recognizing their ability to mobilize critical and creative action to address pressing socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and socioenvironmental problems. Teaching and engaging students through interdisciplinary methods, connecting students and communities, developing a sense of agency and responsibility for planetary sustainability has become a visible focus in higher education. My study aimed to understand how an environmental humanities class affects, if at all, the way students construct worldview. …

Restoring Relationships: Indigenous Ways Of Knowing Meet Undergraduate Environmental Studies And Science, Nancy Leigh Rich

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As places to engage with changing and complex ideas, institutions of higher education offer a logical site for bringing Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science. However, profound differences between Indigenous and Western knowledges, as well as ongoing colonialism, cultural biases of science, and the nature of mainstream academia, have discouraged this endeavor. Recent developments in undergraduate pedagogy now point the way.

Using critical inquiry and qualitative methodology, this comparative study developed recommendations for practice based on current undergraduate teaching practices that bring Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science across a diversity of …

Fostering Sustainability In Higher Education: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Transformative Leadership And Change Strategies, Kim H. Mcnamara

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As evidence of the earth’s limited capacity to sustain human life mounts, institutions of higher education are being looked to for leadership in the effort to educate students about environmental concerns and support the development of sustainable innovations. Colleges and universities are responding to this call for leadership by starting and/or expanding environmental research programs, integrating sustainability issues throughout the curriculum, adopting sustainable operations, and building green facilities. Reflecting upon the sustainability efforts of these institutions, this research study explores the following questions: What factors are essential for initiating and leading a successful change effort to foster sustainability in higher …

Activist Training In The Academy: Developing A Master's Program In Environmental Advocacy And Organizing At Antioch New England Graduate School, Steve Chase

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This curriculum action research study begins by raising the question of whether environmental studies programs within higher education should launch activist training programs for public interest advocates and grassroots organizers working for nonprofit organizations focused on environmental protection, corporate accountability, and social justice. Answering that question in the affirmative, the study then focuses on the theoretical issues underlying the creation of activist training programs within the academy, specifically within environmental studies programs, and reports on a case study of the successful development of a master’s program in Environmental Advocacy and Organizing. The first section on theoretical issues focuses first on …