Development of a Sustainability Literacy and Behaviors Survey

CWU is working to improve its sustainability. As part of this effort, through CWU’s Sustainability Certificate I developed a sustainability literacy and behavior survey that tests students’ knowledge about sustainability topics and challenges, and also assesses students’ sustainability behaviors. This survey will help CWU assess and evaluate their sustainability education initiatives and see what can be improved upon. This survey will also gain CWU points through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainable Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). This survey is to be taken as a pre and post survey, one at the beginning and one at the end of a period of time. Then when analyzing the results, we can see what students learned about sustainability in a certain course and how we can improve education about the topic. The survey was given out spring and fall of 2021 as a trial run and to receive feedback about the survey. The survey was revised, and re-administered in the winter and spring of 2022. Here are the results of the survey, including results from the survey administered at the beginning and end of a course to assess gains in sustainability literacy by the students.