Curricular experience on sustainable consciousness: A case study in university students in Chile
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19083/ridu.2026.2452Keywords:
curricular emphasis, instructional practice, sustainable consciousness, college impact modelAbstract
Introduction: Higher education institutions (HEIs) are responsible for training professionals capable of integrating sustainability into their respective disciplines and professional practice. Objective: This study examines the effect of curricular experience with sustainability elements on sustainable consciousness (knowingness, attitude, and behavior) among higher education students in Chile. Method: A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional design was used. A total of 759 students from a public university in northern Chile participated. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were applied to validate the instrument and test the hypotheses. Results: The structural model showed a good fit: χ² (199) = 561.824, CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.049, SRMR = 0.054. Curricular emphasis was positively associated with knowingness (β = 0.38, p<.001), attitude (β = 0.38, p<.001), and sustainable behavior (β = 0.45, p<.001). However, instructional practice had a negative and significant effect on attitude (β = −0.12, p<.05) and was not significant for knowingness (β = −0.05, p>.05) or behavior (β = 0.07, p>.05). Discussion: Curricular emphasis is associated with higher levels of sustainable consciousness, whereas classroom instruction alone does not guarantee positive results in attitudes. Practical implications and limitations are presented.
References
Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 40(5), 518–529.
Barth, M., Godemann, J., Rieckmann, M., & Stoltenberg, U. (2007). Developing key competencies for sustainable development in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8(4), 416–430. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370710823582
Berglund, T., Gericke, N., Boeve-de Pauw, J., Olsson, D., & Chang, T. C. (2019). A cross-cultural comparative study of sustainability consciousness between students in Taiwan and Sweden. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 22(7), 6287–6313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00478-2
Campo, A., & Oviedo, H. C. (2008). Propiedades psicométricas de una escala: la consistencia interna. Revista de Salud Publica (Bogota), 10(5), 831–839. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0124-00642008000500015
Cebrián, G., & Junyent, M. (2015). Competencies in education for sustainable development: Exploring the student teachers’ views. Sustainability, 7(3), 2768–2786. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7032768
Dönmez, İ. (2024). Sustainability in Educational Research: Mapping the Field with a Bibliometric Analysis. Sustainability, 16(13), 5541. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135541
Eraslan, M., Kir, S., Turan, M. B., & Iqbal, M. (2024). Sustainability Consciousness and Environmental Behaviors: Examining Demographic Differences Among Sports Science Students. Sustainability, 16(24), 10917. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162410917
Gericke, N., Boeve-de Pauw, J., Berglund, T., & Olsson, D. (2019). The Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire: The theoretical development and empirical validation of an evaluation instrument for stakeholders working with sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 27, 35–49. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1859
Grayson, J. P. (2008). The experiences and outcomes of domestic and international students at four Canadian universities. Higher Education Research & Development, 27(3), 215–230. http://doi.org/10.1080/07294360802183788
Gulzar, Y., Eksili, N., Caylak, P. C., & Mir, M. S. (2023). Sustainability consciousness research trends: A bibliometric analysis. Sustainability, 15(24), 16773. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152416773
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis. Cengage Learning.
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
Jakob, J. (2020). Education for sustainable development: Basics and perspectives. Grundlagen und Perspektiven ÖRF, 28(2), 11–27. https://doi.org/10.25364/10.28:2020.2.2
Kline, R. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (Methodology in the Social Sciences). The Guilford Press.
Leicht, A., Heiss, J., & Byun, W. J. (Eds.). (2018). Issues and trends in education for sustainable development. UNESCO Publishing.
Li, H. (2025). Sustainability consciousness of pre-service English teachers. Discover Sustainability, 6, 68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00776-4
Locatelli, G. (2022). Teaching sustainable energy systems to engineering students. International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 16(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJISD.2022.119233
Lozano, R., Merrill, M. Y., Sammalisto, K., Ceulemans, K., & Lozano, F. J. (2017). Connecting competences and pedagogical approaches for sustainable development in higher education. Sustainability, 9(10), 1889. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101889
Machado, C. F., & Davim, J. P. (2023). Sustainability in the modernization of higher education: Curricular transformation and sustainable campus—A literature review. Sustainability, 15(11), 8615. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118615
Morales, V., Borrego, F. J., Díaz, A., & López, J. M. (2023). Levels of sustainability awareness in Spanish university students of nautical activities as future managers of sports and active tourism programmes. Sustainability, 15, 2733. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032733
Ogishima, H., Ito, A., Kajimura, S., & Himichi, T. (2023). Validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the sustainability consciousness questionnaire. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1130550. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1130550
Olsson, D., Gericke, N., & Chang Rundgren, S. N. (2016). The effect of implementation of education for sustainable sevelopment in Swedish Compulsory Schools—Assessing pupils’ sustainability consciousness. Environmental Education Research, 22, 176–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2015.1005057
Olsson, D., Gericke, N., Boeve-de Pauw, J., Berglund T., & Chang T. (2019). Green schools in Taiwan: Effects on student sustainability consciousness. Global Environmental Change, 54, 184–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.11.011
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2023). Perspectivas del medio ambiente en América Latina. https://www.oecd.org/environment/
Othman, A. A., Abdelall, H. A., & Ali, H. I. (2025). Enhancing nurses’ sustainability consciousness and its effect on green behavior intention and green advocacy: quasi-experimental study. BMC Nursing, 24, 475. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-025-02987-0
Pauw, J. B.-de, Gericke, N., Olsson, D., & Berglund, T. (2015). The effectiveness of education for sustainable development. Sustainability, 7(11), 15693–15717. https://doi.org/10.3390/su71115693
Qi, S., Huang, D., Ma, Q., & Zhou, M. (2023). Factors influencing sustainable development literacy among engineering undergraduates in China: Based on the college impact model. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(2), 1249. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021249
Rolón, V. (2016). Enfoques curriculares en la educación superior. ACADEMO: Revista de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 3(1).
Salamzadeh, Y., Okkiran, Ş., Yaprak, B., Adekunle, O. E., & Demirel, C. (2026). Rethinking sustainability consciousness: A holistic approach to understanding its determinants in the food industry. Sustainable Development, 34(1), 1238–1254. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.70311
Sanjeev, M. A., Agrawal, R., Syed, R. T., Arumugam, T., & Praveena, K. (2025). Impact of sustainability education on senior student attitudes and behaviors: evidence from India. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 26(4), 852–871. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-01-2024-0024
Tilbury, D. (2011). Education for sustainable development: An expert review of processes and learning. UNESCO.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2020). Education for sustainable development: A Roadmap. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374802
Wu, M. J., Zhao, K., & Fils, F. (2022). Response rates of online surveys in published research: A meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 7, 100206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100206
Yuan, W., Ma, Y., Deng, Y., & Liu, X. (2024). Factors affecting sustainability-related career expectations among engineering undergraduates in China: An empirical study based on a modified college impact model. Behavioral Sciences, 14(5), 409. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14050409
Zhao, Q., Liu, X., Ma, Y., Zheng, X., Yu, M., & Wu, D. (2020). Application of the modified college impact model to understand Chinese engineering undergraduates’ sustainability consciousness. Sustainability, 12(7), 2614. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072614
Zhou, R., & Lee, N. (2022). The reception of education for sustainable development (ESD) in China: A historical review. Sustainability, 14(7), 4333. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074333
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 José Silva Munar, Carlos Galleguillos Cortes, Rubén Hurtado Cailly, Hanni Guerrero Neira
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
