Networks, Norms and Educational Change: The Case of Environmental Learning
The aspiration to transform society through educational innovation is a primary motivator for individuals, organizations, governments, and a myriad of cultural actors. However, the implementation of these innovations often falters when faced with entrenched organizational and institutional barriers. This talk addresses a fundamental question in educational research: How do collective structures create the conditions for change, and how do individual and organizational actors successfully navigate institutional constraints to enact that change?
To answer this question, I review a few studies I conducted to examine the implementation of the new environmental education approach in San Mateo County, California. Drawing on institutional theory, I analyze the implementation of environmental education at the meso-level of organizational structures, focusing on the critical roles of networks and norms. The majority of my talk will focus on findings from a study of 95 teacher entrepreneurs leading environmental education initiatives, demonstrating how their success was shaped by network dependency and institutional norm alignment. This case study illuminates the broader institutional challenges of advancing educational change, concluding with recommendations for how networks and norms can be intentionally designed to facilitate rather than constrain such innovation.
I will conclude by presenting two current directions of my work. One, looking into the future, asks how we can utilize large-scale datasets to manage environmental education integration at the school district level. The second, drawing on past practices, takes a new approach to bridging science and religious education, exploring how teaching ritual behaviors and community rituals can and already do shape norms of environmental practice.
Short Bio:
Naama Sadan is a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and an affiliate of the Ardoin Socioecology Lab. She is a former high school teacher and current researcher working on fostering cultural shifts toward environmental sustainability in institutions. Originally from Jerusalem, Israel, she completed her Ph.D. at the Hebrew University, conducting fieldwork in California as a visiting student researcher at UC Berkeley. Her dissertation examined the organizational structures that support eco-literacy integration in school districts. At Stanford, her research explores the role of rituals in promoting environmental education and sustainable behaviors in both religious and non-religious contexts. Naama also serves as co-chair of the Applied Collaboratory for Religion and Ecology (ACRE), a Stanford-based initiative, and is an advisor for the California Eco-Literacy Initiative (CALEI), advancing sustainability education integration in California schools.
