Art-based environmental education engages young children’s creative thinking around sustainability issuesEarly Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) is an emerging educational practice aimed at promoting young children’s environmental competence. This study explored the role that creativity plays in young children’s understanding of environmental sustainability as they investigate and propose solutions to environmental issues. In the study, art was used as an educational tool, as well as a research method, to facilitate kindergarten students’ engagement with a sustainability problem.
This action research study was conducted with a public kindergarten class in Athens, Greece. Twenty children (age 4–5 years) participated in the study. The classroom teacher, who was also a researcher in the study, led an art-based environmental education intervention focused on the issue of urban waste. The teacher-researcher engaged children in daily hour-long eco-art lessons, which were implemented in four stages throughout the school year. The first stage involved children in exploring waste in the school environment using photovoice and photo-elicitation methods. Through these participatory, art-based research methods, children’s photographs and related discussions enabled an exploration of waste from their perspectives. The second stage incorporated viewing environmental artworks, such as paintings, photographs and videos, to further explore the issue of waste. In the third stage, children used art-based methods to identify and propose solutions. Children shared their artworks with the local community in the final stage, which included an art exhibition that promoted their vision for sustainability. Data sources, including observation notes, a reflective research diary, transcribed conversations, feedback from parents, and the children’s artworks, were analyzed qualitatively using content and thematic analysis methods. Additionally, findings informed a theoretical framework proposed by the study.
Findings revealed that children’s creative thinking was encouraged through engaging with environmental problems in an art-based approach. Main findings were focused on: (1) how creativity was expressed by children, and (2) the factors that supported children’s creativity. Indicators of children’s creativity within the context of the art-based environmental project were evident as children: identified problems and demonstrated positive attitudes in responding to the challenges posed by these issues; expressed an “innate tendency” to form and respond to questions; connected observations to prior knowledge and identified and predicted relationships between different aspects of the waste issue; demonstrated “a richer and more meaningful thinking process” as they questioned facts and examined the issue from new perspectives; explored new ideas and devised innovative suggestions; and engaged in critical thinking to evaluate their ideas and consider the impacts of their proposed actions. Findings also highlighted the factors that supported or constrained children’s creativity, which included learning-process and content factors, student factors, and teacher factors. The researchers concluded that, overall, “the students’ characteristics, nurtured by a supportive teacher and a permissive school environment, played a key role in the blooming of classroom creativity.”
The study reveals how visual arts engaged kindergarten students’ creative and critical thinking about an environmental issue. Artwork facilitated children’s exploration of the causes and effects of urban waste, helped deepen their understandings around the concept of sustainability, and provided a way for children to “share their vision for a more sustainable future.” Theoretical constructions proposed by the researchers suggest that incorporating creativity into ECEfS strengthens children’s thinking and encourages pro-environmental actions.
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