Exploring the influence of multicultural perceptions of sustainability from undergraduate students

Background/Question/Methods

The Rocky Mountain Sustainability and Science Network (RMSSN) summer academy promotes STEM education in informal landscapes.  RMSSN is designed to introduce students to concepts of sustainability and science using the setting of a national park; however the academy also encourages the use of digital media where students can explore their perceptions of sustainability using images.  We use a series of ipads that are issued to student teams during the academy.  Each team is charged with documenting images of sustainability during their stay at the academy.  All images were uploaded into a common data base and then two student researchers (who were not participants) randomly sorted images and assigned themes and outcomes.  A second random sort led to a pick-list where student researchers then interviewed students on the perceptions of sustainability from the individual photographs

Results/Conclusions Digital images and semi-structured interviews are tools to explore perceptions of theorectical concept such as sustainability.  By asking multicultural students to describe their perceptions, we can start to explore how ecological knowledge differs among cultural groups within U.S. minorities and highlights the need for ecologists to learn from ethnic communities