2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This study examined the role of emotions in sustainability education. Faculty reflections on their own emotions and their perceptions of student emotions related to sustainability education in engineering were analyzed. The findings were then connected to emotionally conscious, effective teaching strategies in sustainability education within engineering. The research was part of a larger study grounded in the Diffusion of Innovation theory. Ten interviews were conducted with innovators and early adopters of educating mechanical engineering students about sustainability in the U.S. and Canada. Following the discrete emotions framework of the HUMAINE database, 48 emotions were used as an initial coding framework. The total number of different emotions attributed to faculty and/or students within each interview ranged from 5 to 24, with some faculty speaking in much more emotional language than others. In six of the interviews there were more distinct positive emotions than negative emotions evident for both students and faculty. The most common faculty emotion was interest in sustainability and enjoyment (pleasure) teaching sustainability; similar emotions were attributed to students learning about sustainability issues. However, two interviewees used the term “doom and gloom” in reference to their own feelings and their perceptions of the feelings of their students with respect to the (un)sustainability of the planet; it is unclear whether these feelings are best characterized as despair, anxiety, and/or fear. The interviewees connected emotions to their sustainability teaching practices in a variety of ways. This included role modeling for students being mindful of their emotions when discussing sustainability, showing that there are positive steps that can be taken, making learning interesting and fun through games, and empowering students to be a piece of the puzzle in creating change. The results speak to the importance of considering emotions when designing teaching approaches related to sustainability.