Connection, Curiosity, and Care: An E-STEM Approach to Climate Change Education in Early Childhood
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Curious about the sky’s unique and vivid colors, preschool children in Minnesota noticed they could look straight at the hazy, red sun. Sheila, their teacher (and the third author), described the experience:
“It’s like nighttime with a bright moon,” one child shared as thick haze covered the sky, and the sun looked bright red. Like many others, our school has increasingly experienced days when smoke from Canadian or West Coast wildfires fills the sky. On this day, the air quality index was safe enough to venture out. Still, the school has had to develop policies and have conversations with children and families about the health implications of poor air quality days. Children share their concerns through questions such as “Can we go outside later or tomorrow?” and “What about the birds?”
There are no easy answers to children’s questions about the impacts of climate change, or the long-term shifts in weather patterns. These changes are disrupting previously known patterns and balances in nature; for example, through hotter temperatures, wildfires, severe storms, drought, loss of species, impacts on food production, warming oceans, health risks, and displacement due to disasters like flooding (NASA, n.d.). Yet responding in ways that promote children’s exploration, reflection, and learning can help instill a sense of hope and agency rather than fear.
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Victoria Carr, EdD, professor of early childhood education at the University of Cincinnati, is executive director of the Arlitt Center’s laboratory preschool, teaches classes on nature-based early learning, and studies children’s connection to the natural world.
Julie Athman Ernst, PhD, is a professor of environmental education and childhood nature studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Sheila Williams Ridge, EdD, is the director of the University of Minnesota Child Development Laboratory School and has over 25 years of experience as an educator and administrator in nature-based early childhood education.