Biodiversity loss is one of the biggest environmental issues in the world today and the biodiversity literacy of citizens can be key to counteracting this. Considering that children can be change agents and actively take part in decision-making from early years, we have assessed the native fauna identification skills of Primary School students…

Despite the growing awareness of the environmental crisis, few studies have examined how early childhood educators conceptualise the environment and the funds of knowledge they draw upon to describe these. Using 'funds of knowledge' as a theoretical lens, this study explores how early childhood educators in Malta describe the environment. Guided…

Environmental education is becoming a growing area of interest in early childhood education. In France, more time is given to environmental education activities in the preschool curriculum. Yet, there is a risk of narrowing preschool environmental education only to carry out pro-environmental behaviours, without giving pupils the opportunity to…

Education for sustainable development is needed at all school levels. The aim of this systematic literature review is to increase knowledge on sustainability competences in the context of primary school education for sustainable development. The sustainability competences considered in this study are systems thinking competence, futures thinking…

This article illustrates a research project in a Swedish elementary school where young students are engaged in a project on ecology. Species, digital resources and nature contribute to place-based exploration of ecological issues, relevant in learning for sustainability. Since children grow up in a digital era, their meaning-making is transversed…

Research shows that experiences with nature have positive direct and indirect effects on multiple domains of child development, including language skills. However, few studies have examined the relationship between young children's language and outdoor nature settings. In this quantitative study, we compared children's language use in an indoor…

This paper aims to contribute to the field of knowledge surrounding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) curricula with a view to filling a gap in ESD literature by identifying features that may help ESD course designers. The study asks the questions: what is taught in ESD courses in higher education? and what content do students say they…

Science education is increasingly integrating a focus on socio-scientific issues. Policy makers and scholars also suggest education for sustainable development (ESD) is important for tackling current and future sustainability issues. ESD may foster students' action competence in sustainable development (ACiSD; knowledgeability, willingness,…

How to support young people's agency is a key question of sustainability education. Action competence for sustainability is suggested covering the essential components of youth's readiness to act both individually and collectively, but empirical tests of these associations are scarce. Therefore, this study explores the relationship between action…

Some human activities have caused a serious environmental crisis, producing irreversible damage and loss of resources and diversity, which is why a strong sustainability approach is required to keep human activities within planetary boundaries. However, a strong sustainability concept can be difficult for teachers to convey and for students to…

This study engages with how sustainability stories can assign meaning to sustainability matter in different ways. The study contributes to discussions on how to combine facts, norms, and the democratic action competence in pluralistic approaches in Environmental and Sustainability Education. A special focus is put on how co-created sustainability…

There exist already many practical projects that bring together Education for sustainable development (ESD) and artistic practices. They tie in with the transformative potential and the power that are attributed to the field of art in dealing with issues in the context of sustainable development. However, it is currently not clear how this…

Sustainability issues are a problem in Chile because of the policies of the present and previous governments. Chile has a neo-liberal model for development and many ecological problems, which involve social and environmental injustices and an overvalue of economic growth for development. Building on the three pillars model of sustainability of…

Knowledge about sustainability problems as it is typically taught does not "per se" lead to action for tackling these problems. Environmental and sustainability education researchers have argued for teaching more action-oriented knowledge. This article addresses the 'didactical work' required for teachers to do so, both in preparing and…

Teachers' instructional beliefs and interests in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) are related to holistic, pluralistic, and action-oriented instructional practices in ESD teaching. To explore this hypothesis, we examine teachers' ESD teaching profiles based on their instructional beliefs, interests, and instructional practices in ESD.…