It is crucial that future generations have the knowledge about nature and the willingness to make right decisions for sustainable development, including the halt of global biodiversity loss. Perception of species and the ability to identify wild species (i.e. animals, plants and fungi) are fundamental for the understanding of biodiversity.…

Sometimes, contact with the natural environment is not commonly present at school. Often, students are involved in activities considering distant environments which do not correspond to the reality of the environment in which they live. The aim of this research is to find out whether kindergarten aged children who live in the Natural Park of the…

This study examines the role of nature in children's literature on bookshelves in early childhood education settings to explore how books in kindergarten classrooms represent nature and the relationship between nature and humans. The findings are (a) cursory references, (b) human autonomy over nature, and (c) nature as a learning opportunity.…

The study aimed to determine the effect of a brain-based environmental program for preschool children aged 5-6 years on their sustainable environmental behaviors. For this purpose, an experimental study was designed for a period of 8 weeks. The participants of the study were composed of 20 children from middle socio-economic level families who…

The study aimed at examining the effects of drama-based activities on environmental sustainability behaviors of preschool children aged 5-6. The participants of the study were composed of 20 volunteer children selected via convenience sampling model at a kindergarten in Kütahya in 2018-2019 school year. Out of 20 participating children, 10 were in…

Simplified, reductionist approaches to curriculum design and delivery are pervasive in science education. In ecological curricula--particularly in, but not limited to K-12--biomes, ecosystems, habitats, and other units of study are simplified and presented as static, easily identified and described entities. Characteristics, components, and…

In this paper, we draw on the ontology and epistemology of the local Kasena ethnic group in Northern Ghana to explore Early Childhood Environmental Education. The study, taking place in Boania Primary School, drew on the concept of two-eyed seeing, where both western and Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies were taught. In this way, Indigenous…

As environmental education and sustainability education play a fundamental role in training citizens who are more aware of global change and more environmentally responsible, organic learning is a recommended alternative learning experience for young children. This article describes how one kindergarten class in South Korea applied organic…

In this paper we explore what decentring the child in posthumanism does to our research practices, to our conceptualisations of and relationalities to the child. Crucially, we explore the imperative for other ways to encounter the child -- that pursue a decolonising and de/recentralising agenda. We pursue tentacular lines of enquiry through a…

Referring to Haraway's concept of tentacularity, this article embarks on a curious research practice-inspired speculative journey to think with material tentacular becomings in an Australian kindergarten. Some of the questions that guided our curious research practice asked: How does curious practice as a postqualitative methodology enable us, as…

The world is confronted with wicked environmental problems that cannot be well understood or acted upon without addressing their ethical dimensions. Research shows that official science curricula on environmental science and ecology topics are shaped by the scientific discourse and environmental discourses of "ecological modernization"…

In our interconnected world, what does it mean to teach global environmental issues to young children? Using theoretical foundations from the social justice learning community and child-directed, inquiry-based learning best practices, this practitioner reflection details a seven-week, student-centered, interdisciplinary learning experience…

Purpose: This article was intended to share and reflect on experiences concerning the education for sustainable development (ESD) project at Hongqiao Kindergarten in Shanghai. The project aimed to explore how ESD could be implemented in a current curriculum and to provide useful examples of educational activities and experiences.…

This article describes an activity designed to foster an authentic way for students to learn about the biodiversity in their community. The activity is a half year scaffolding sequence to explore the living environment right outside the classroom. In using the outdoors just outside the window as a classroom, an inquiry based activity accomplished…

Thirty 6-year-olds from two public schools located in a small provincial town in Greece were used as a sample in an explorative study into the mental models young children hold concerning forest destruction and waste. The study also explored how these mental models might be interrelated either within each issue or between issues. The analysis of…