Open AccessChildren as eco-citizens?
Author(s) -
Marianne Presthus Heggen,
Barbara Maria Sageidet,
Nina Goga,
Liv Torunn Grindheim,
Veronica Bergan,
Inger Wallem Krempig,
Tove Aagnes Utsi,
Anne Myklebust Lynngård
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
nordina
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1894-1257
pISSN - 1504-4556
DOI - 10.5617/nordina.6186
Subject(s) - curiosity , citizenship , sustainability , citizenship education , psychology , pedagogy , environmental education , sociology , environmental ethics , political science , developmental psychology , social psychology , ecology , law , philosophy , politics , biology
Education for sustainability in early childhood tends to focus on practices and advocacy, rather than on the aims of this education. We suggest that the aim should be to consider children as being and becoming eco-citizens. This suggestion is built on an exploration of children as eco-citizens. With theories concerning child-sized citizenship we suggest a description of children and adults as being and becoming eco-citizen. We explore this through the fields of nature connection and science and children’s curiosity. We find that environmentally friendly practices as gardening and harvesting wild food show how children’s eco-citizenship is realizable. We support this additionally by references to how children’s literature, seeing how children depicted as eco-citizens can support the notion of children as eco-citizens. Through these analyses, we conclude that children should be viewed as being and becoming eco-citizens.