Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 74.30
Liaison Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Submission Date Sept. 2, 2022

STARS v2.2

Polytechnique Montréal
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 4.00 Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Sustainability Advisor
Sustainable Development Office
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Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students?:
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):
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A list or 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 quiz 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?
-There are 17 of them and they 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 or 2nd 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 is administered via a Moodle Quiz on a dedicated Moodle webpage. Professors of a number of first or second year mandatory courses in different engineering programs asked their students to take the quiz. The test has been given in several different courses since September 2018. The goal is to target all students either in the first or second year of engineering Bachelor's degree programs.

A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s):
The test was first administered in first year courses in 2018-2019. Since then, results have been used, for example, to adapt presentations and put emphasis on questions missed in the quiz. An encouraging fact is that most of the students tested had heard about the general concepts of sustainable development. Sometimes there is some confusion when identifying the three pillars (food or education appears in the answers). In 2018-2019, the general average of the students who have passed the test is 55%. In 2021-2022, the general average was 68%.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the sustainability literacy assessment is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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