Community, agency, and diversity: student experiences in climate and environmental justice courses

Despite recent progress integrating climate and environmental justice (CEJ) into interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) programs, major barriers remain. Challenges include limited faculty and student diversity, recent and historic political constraints, insufficient CEJ content, and a lack of social science and justice perspectives in STEM curricula. However, as explored in this study, CEJ pedagogy has the potential to foster sentiments of belonging and inclusion and diversify IES and STEM fields. This mixed-methods study examined student learning, inclusion, and belonging in 11 CEJ-focused courses at a private technical university. Analyzing data from surveys, classroom observations, and student reflections, the authors identified four components of effective CEJ pedagogy. Our findings both confirm existing research in this area on (1) responsible community engagement and (2) development of student agency and offer fresh insights into the importance of (3) explicit discussions of CEJ and (4) student perceptions of course diversity. The study also introduced a new survey tool to assess sense of belonging and perceptions of environmental justice, and the recommendations offer new holistic perspectives on how these four areas of CEJ pedagogy can reinforce one another and inform equity-focused teaching approaches in IES and STEM education.