Dr. Olivia Aguilar completed her B.S. and M.S. in Horticulture Science at Texas A&M University, where she studied children’s gardens and their effect on youth environmental attitudes.
After teaching in public schools for two years, she went on to receive her PhD in Natural Resources at Cornell University in 2009 studying environmental and science education. Her research examines how sociocultural learning theories help to explain learning in environmental and science contexts.
In April, Dr. Aguilar spoke on a panel addressing Sociocultural Theories in Environmental Education at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching International Conference, where she discussed the value of the community of practice framework to help identify learning as a social process in classrooms. She is in the process of expanding this work to identify theories associated with community-based environmental education and has traveled to Texas and Florida to collect data for this project.
Dr. Aguilar teaches both ENVS intro courses: People and the Environment (ENVS 101) and Science and the Environment (ENVS 102), Sustainable Agriculture, Environmental Education, Junior Practicum and Senior Project. She was recently one of three Denison professors featured in TEDxDenisonU, where she spoke about her No Impact Week project in ENVS 101. This week long project builds on Colin Beavan’s book, No Impact Man and his attempt to live with as little environmental impact as possible for a whole year. In Dr. Aguilar’s course, her students attempt to live with as little environmental impact as possible for a whole week on a college campus.