Urban Environmental Education

Collection

Urban Environmental Education

Young people reading and spending time together in the park

Audience

Topic

For more information, see the eePRO blog: Beyond Butterflies and Recycling Bins

This collection of urban environmental education research shows a shift from traditional nature-deficit models toward approaches addressing complex urban realities. Studies demonstrate effective strategies including: critical pedagogy that helps youth analyze systemic forces like gentrification; experiential learning with trees as "co-teachers"; school farms that reconnect children with nature while building community; citizen science that promotes multispecies awareness; university-high school mentoring programs that transform environmental identities; and educational games addressing local climate challenges. These place-based, participatory approaches deepen students' understanding of their environments while fostering engagement with systemic issues.

Isobel Talks

This research explores how 545 children across urban UK schools engaged with trees through a framework of "dwelling, skilling and belonging," showing trees can become "co-teachers" through diverse activities like climbing, soil exploration, and den building.

Isobel Talks

Brazilian researchers demonstrate how environmental education programs in urban schools, including school farms and green space restoration, reconnected children with nature and increased ecological consciousness, supporting UNESCO's goal of making environmental education a core curriculum component by 2025.

School farms and green spaces reconnect urban children with nature for ecological and community benefits

This article describes how researchers from Brazil implemented Environmental Education (EE) programs in national parks and public schools in urban areas, focusing on incorporating EE into school curricula and recovering local green spaces. The researchers worked with the Group of Research and Studies in Environmental Education and Sustainability (GEPEASA), conducting their work across multiple sites including the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, Serra do Mar State Park, and five public schools in São Paulo state.

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Posted: 05/15/25

Isobel Talks

In this article Finnish researchers engaged students in tracking urban rats using painted track plates, showing how creative approaches to scientific activity can challenge traditional human-animal divisions.

Moving beyond human-centered urban environmental education by seeing species and materials as knowledge collaborators

This paper explores how ecological inquiry with young people can challenge human-centered approaches to environmental education by incorporating posthumanist perspectives. The researchers analyzed a citizen science project in which secondary school students (ages 12-14) tracked urban rat presence in Helsinki, Finland, using track plates - white plastic squares painted with lampblack that capture animal paw prints.

Resource

Posted: 05/15/25

Isobel Talks

This study shows how university sociology students who mentored high school learners at an urban ecological sustainability center experienced transformative learning outcomes, with the percentage identifying as environmentalists jumping from 27% to 91% while also showing increased civic engagement and pro-environmental behaviors.

Experiential programs transform university students' environmental identities and civic engagement

This case study explored how two university sociology courses incorporating ecojustice pedagogies affected undergraduate students who mentored high school service learners at the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center in Albany, New York. The research team conducted participant observation and gathered data through surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups with university students, high school students, and community stakeholders.

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Posted: 05/15/25

Isobel Talks

Researchers developed "Chill City," an interactive game teaching about urban heat mitigation strategies that helped players understand environmental, social, and economic tradeoffs while providing a non-judgmental, solution-oriented approach to learning about climate adaptation.

Educational games focused on local climate adaptation strategies can effectively engage learners in understanding complex tradeoffs while providing a non-judgmental, solution-oriented approach to environmental education that may increase public support fo

This study addressed the challenge of educating the public about extreme heat, a climate risk that's often "invisible, frequently chronic and subtly pervasive" compared to more dramatic events like wildfires or flooding. The researchers identified twelve heat planning strategies from the literature, including cool roofs, green infrastructure, urban tree canopy, and cooling centers, then scored each for social impact, environmental impact, and relative cost across three climate zones: hot and dry, hot and humid, and temperate.

Resource

Posted: 05/15/25

Isobel Talks

In this article Bellino and Adams propose a critical urban environmental pedagogy that helps youth analyze systemic forces like neoliberalism and gentrification, moving beyond traditional environmental education's focus on individual behavior change to address structural issues in urban environments.