Educating Young Children in a Changing Climate: Impacts on Programs and Practices
Integrating Climate Change Conversations into Kindergarten and the Primary Grades
Erin Hamel, Jingjing Xu, Liwei Zhao, Andree Champagne, Hong Tran, and Emily Adah Miller
Young children are naturally curious about the world around them. They notice small changes in the environment that adults may overlook— a slow-moving insect or early, subtle changes in the color of leaves— and big changes, such as smoke from wildfires, heavy downpours from hurricanes, very hot surfaces and temperatures outside, or wilted grass due to long-term drought.
Growing evidence suggests that early childhood educators need to consider nature and the environment within their curricula( Meier & Sisk-Hilton 2017). To prepare children to join a“ climate literate citizenry,” educators should include topics related to the environment and climate( Beaver & Borgerding 2023, 3). Studies have shown the negative effects of extreme
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