Environmental learning and
behavior in everyday life: Initial
findings from a mixed-methods
study in the San Francisco Bay Area
Nicole Ardoin
’05 M.Phil., ’09 Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Education &
Woods Institute for the Environment
Stanford University
What influences people’s day-to-day environmentally related actions, such
as decisions about what to eat, how to commute, and how to dispose of
trash? What role does learning play in these choices and behaviors?
The Environmental Learning in the Bay Area research study explores how
people learn about the environment in the course of their everyday lives
and how that relates to undertaking environmentally related behaviors. Dr.
Ardoin will describe the first phase of the study, which involves a generalpublic survey, interviews, and community listening sessions conducted
throughout the 12-county Bay Area region. She will also discuss how this
first phase of research has informed the second phase, which involves case
studies of initiatives linking environmental learning and behavior—
including a refurbished bread truck-turned-national park and a farmer’s
market at a community health center.
12:00-1:00 FREE EVENT in Burke Auditorium, Kroon Hall
Lunch will be provided – first come, first served