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Family and consumer sciences (FCS) is a logical discipline to promote environmental sustainability within the family because it is recognized as helping people make informed decisions about the well-being of individuals and their relationships and resources to achieve optimal quality of life. The objective of this article was to measure the knowledge and confidence levels of FCS professionals in preparing and presenting sustainability concepts within the FCS curriculum. Results of a small pilot study (pre-and posttest) revealed that FCS professionals entered this study with a high level of knowledge of key sustainability concepts, but a lower level of confidence in their ability to integrate these concepts into the curriculum. After attending an educational session on teaching sustainability in FCS, their confidence increased significantly. Professional development opportunities are needed that focus on creative ways to teach professionals about how to integrate key sustainability concepts into the FCS curriculum. Various suggestions to achieve this goal are provided.
Family and consumer sciences (FCS) has a long history of interaction with environmental sustainability, beginning with Ellen Swallow Richards, the founder of FCS. In 1892, she introduced the term "oekology," defined as "an intricate link to science, the environment and the human interaction" (Miles, 2010a). Although Dr. Richards died before the oekology (or ecology) movement fully blossomed, her impact on the role of sustainability lives on within the profession today (Wylie, 2005). The purpose of this article is to measure the knowledge and confidence levels of FCS professionals in preparing and presenting sustainability concepts within the FCS curriculum. It begins with a brief history of sustainability as a concept in FCS, followed with the identification of key concepts of environmental sustainability for FCS education. The results of a pilot study focused on FCS professionals' confidence in teaching sustainability are reported, along with implications for professional development within FCS.
HISTORY OF SUSTAINABILITY IN FCS
Ellen Swallow Richards was the first female graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1873 (Clark, 1974; Hunt, 1958; Kato, 2008; Richardson, 2002) . With her firm belief that quality of life is related to society's ability to teach its members to five in harmony with the environment, Richards studied water-quality testing and applied scientific principles to the work...