Toward a Model for Early Childhood Environmental Education: Foregrounding, Developing, and Connecting Knowledge Through Play-Based Learning

Abstract

Environmental education represents a growing area of interest in early childhood education, especially since the inclusion of environmental principles and practices in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. Traditionally, these two fields of education have been characterized by diverse pedagogical emphases. This article considers how teachers in particular see different types of pedagogical play, such as open-ended play, modeled play, and purposefully framed play as providing opportunities for young children and teachers to develop knowledge through experiences about environmental education in early childhood settings. As a result of findings based on our qualitative research study involving early childhood teachers and children, an emerging model for thinking about environmental education in early childhood is proposed as a way of integrating these pedagogical emphases traditionally associated with environmental and early childhood education. Avenues for future research associated with this model are also identified.

Keywords:

• early childhood environmental education
• knowledge
• play-based learning
• teachers
• teaching

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research reported in this article was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under the Discovery Project Scheme 2010–2011. The authors wish to thank the executive editor and reviewers for their helpful suggestions in revising this article. They also wish to acknowledge Deb Moore's contribution to the overall ARC project and her significant research assistant role.

Notes

1. In this article we understand “content” to refer to conceptual knowledge associated with particular knowledge domains or learning areas (Hedges & Cullen, 2005). In this article, we are concerned with environmental education as a knowledge domain, and indeed content area of early childhood education.

2. The project was conducted with ethical approval from the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC) and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD).