Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.88
Liaison Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Submission Date June 3, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Polytechnique Montréal
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 4.00 Shirley Fagnen
Sustainable Development Advisor
Sustainable Development Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students (i.e. an assessment focused on student knowledge of sustainability topics and challenges)?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the literacy assessment? The assessment is administered to::
The entire (or predominate) student body, directly or by representative sample

Which of the following best describes the structure of the assessment? The assessment is administered as a::
Standalone evaluation without a follow-up assessment of the same cohort or representative samples

A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment(s):
---

A sample of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment or the website URL where the assessment tool may be found:

The sustainability literacy assessment is a multiple choice quizz composed of 15 questions. Here is a sample of the questions:
- What international agreement aims to limit the increase in global temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius by 2100 to reduce the adverse effects of climate change?
- What sustainable development tool can be used to analyze and quantify the total environmental impact of a product, service or system, from design to end of life?
-When we look at the life cycle of one kilo of beef from the beef feed culture until it was consumed by an individual, how much water does this kg of beef require?
-They are 17 in number and represent goals to be achieved in less than 15 years for a better world. What are they?


A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:

This test was developed to evaluate the sustainability knowledge of the new students (1st year undergraduates). The Sustainability Office developed a pool of about 30 questions addressing aspects such as key sustainability definitions, historical facts, Quebec or Canadian legislation issues, sustainability tools for engineers, everyday life impacts and so on.


A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :

The test was administered via a Moodle Quiz on a dedicated Moodle webpage. The Sustainability Office team selected a number of mandatory first year courses in the different engineering programs and asked the students to take the quiz. The test has been given in seven different courses since September 2018. The idea is to target all first year students of engineering Bachelor's degree programs.


A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s), including a description of any measurable changes over time:

The test was first administered in first year courses in 2018-2019. Since it is new, it is difficult to assess any measurable changes at this time. It is interesting to consider that most of the students tested had heard about the general concepts of sustainable development. Sometimes we notice there is some confusion when identifying the three pillars (food or education appears in the answer). The general average of the students of the 9 first courses who have passed the test is 8.3/15.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.