Environmental Science 101: Forum on the Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is typical of many large, introductory Environmental Studies classes taught around the country; the class satisfies science requirements for non-scientists and serves students with a remarkably broad range of backgrounds. These types of introductory environmental studies classes play an important role in helping a wide range of students assess information, understand issues and make decisions related to current environmental concerns. At UW Madison, ES101 has between 150-250 students in their 1st to 5th years, and spanning more than 50 majors. In this study we were interested in gaining a better understanding of how the attitude and awareness of environmental issues might be influenced by student background, specifically level in school and major-discipline. Surveys have been used in this course since 2006 to assess student understanding and background in environmental studies. All data were collected using standard educational practices for the improvement of the course, and in 2008 we sought human subjects approval to more widely disseminate the findings. All students completed pre- and post-attitude and awareness assessment surveys in class. In addition, we monitored student understanding and awareness of environmental issues via weekly ‘thought’ questions related to the material covered in lectures and discussions.  

Results/Conclusions

We found that several factors influenced student response to survey questions. For example the number and type of environmental issues that concern students, and student ranking of an issue’s global versus national importance were affected by level in school, major-discipline, and number of previous science courses taken. Students also varied in where they learned about issues – courses, family, media. Interestingly, and perhaps most significantly for the Ecological Society of America, student awareness of ‘ecological’ topics within environmental studies was poor for all levels and all majors. For example, invasive species were never mentioned as a critical concern. This work is related to importance of intro environmental studies classes for providing a sound understanding of environmental issues for our future citizens. An understanding of the literacy and attitudes of students about different issues, how they relate to a student’s background, and how they change with different course formats, will help to achieve this.