Evaluation of a learning app prototype on sustainable development that aims to promote students’ motivation to act sustainably : A pre-post intervention analysis of data from two schools in Hamburg

Abstract

Background

In June 2012, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by the UN General Assembly. At the core are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which cover the currently most pressing global development challenges that are crucial for the survival of humanity. This thesis aims to analyse whether the use of a digital learning tool concerning the SDGs can promote Hamburg based students’ motivation to adopt more sustainable behaviour in everyday life. Attitudes about sustainability and sustainable behaviour in everyday life are investigated, and differences between social status, age and gender will be in focus.

Methodology

To investigate the students’ motivation and attitudes towards topics of sustainability, a baseline questionnaire and a follow-up questionnaire were used to evaluate the intervention in a quasi-experimental pre-post design in two schools located in Hamburg. Descriptive statistics were used to identify current attitudes towards selected topics of sustainability as well as the knowledge score on sustainability before and after the intervention, non-parametric related-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were applied to detect changes in attitudes, and Chi-square tests calculated associations among gender and attitudes.

Results

A total of 130 students (mean age 15,21; 46.9% female) were recruited. Significant changes in the perceived importance of monitoring the daily water consumption and healthy nutrition were found in both schools. Significant changes regarding the perceived importance of sustainable action and sustainably produced clothing only occurred in Gymnasium Blankenese. Both schools yielded significant improvements concerning sustainability knowledge score (1.17 95%CI (0.90, 1.45) (t(129)=8.38, p<0.001) post intervention. Changes in perceived importance and knowledge towards sustainability outcomes were more in favour of higher socio-economic status.

Conclusion

the digital learning tool ‘Choiz!’ might be able to motivate students to integrate sustainability into their everyday life. Further investigation with the final product of Choiz! is needed to investigate long-term effects.