An Environmental Engineering Sequence: Deliberately Addressing and Evaluating Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge (presentation & 6-page paper)

The need for improved environmental knowledge and attitudes has never been greater due to increased stress on Earth's resources. The unique pedagogical structure of an engineering sequence at the undergraduate level provides a means to improve environmental knowledge and attitudes. This increase in skill sets enables permeation of sound science and principles that have the potential to influence policies made by the next generation of leaders. This study explored the environmental knowledge and attitudes of two different populations including those with a STEM and non-STEM academic field of study taking a similar introductory environmental science course at the United States Military Academy. Initial environmental knowledge differences between Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American students (p=0.0137), between Black/African American and White students (p=0.0002), and between male and female students (p=0.0016) were found to be statistically significant. After taking an environmental science course at the undergraduate level, our results suggest that these differences are no longer significant.