Dr. Christine Guardino, Psychology
Psychology of Sustainable Behavior
It’s Not Easy Being Green: The Psychology of Sustainable Behavior is a first-year seminar that I previously taught during the Fall 2020 semester. After attending the Valley & Ridge workshop, I revised course readings, added opportunities for place-based learning, and updated assignments based on what I learned from the workshop. I added new units to bookend the previous course content, including an introductory unit on broader definitions of sustainability and a closing unit on managing eco-distress. I also updated course plans to include opportunities to exercise the powerful pedagogies covered during the workshops.
Throughout the semester, I hope to incorporate the campus as a living laboratory and engage students in place-based learning. For example, we will visit the College Farm to learn about sustainable agriculture and take a sustainability tour of campus, including stops at the Free Xchange and Handlebar. Two paper assignments will provide opportunities for self-reflection and behavior change, with the goal of helping students to develop a sustainability worldview. Students will also complete a project aimed at promoting sustainable behavior on campus using community-based social marketing strategies and present this work to representatives from the Center for Sustainability Education. In-class activities based on V & R examples, such as the Sustainability Gallery Walk and close reading of sustainability definitions, will allow for active learning in the classroom.
Through these experiences, I hope to connect first year students with Dickinson’s values around sustainability while also developing the writing, research, and analytic skills required for success during their time on campus and beyond.