Children as eco-citizens?

• Main Authors: Marianne Presthus Heggen, Barbara Maria Sageidet, Nina Goga, Liv Torunn Grindheim, Veronica Bergan, Inger Wallem Krempig, Tove Aagnes Utsi, Anne Myklebust Lynngård
• Format: Article
• Language: Danish
• Published: University of Oslo 2019-11-01
• Series: Nordina: Nordic Studies in Science Education
• Online Access: https://journals.uio.no/nordina/article/view/6186

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.