Integrating Indigenous Ecological Knowledge into early childhood environmental education can deepen young children’s connectedness to nature The goal of early childhood environmental education (ECEE) is to help young children develop positive attitudes and values about the world of nature and to promote a sense of connectedness with and responsibility toward the natural environment. The pedagogy and curriculum of ECEE, however, tends to promote “anthropocentric and binary ideas of children existing separately from nature or the environment.” These ideas reflect western science and epistemology which “continuously treats nature and non-humans as separate entities from humans.” As these ideas aren’t consistent with the stated goals of ECEE and are insufficient in promoting environmental sustainability, there have been calls to integrate Indigenous Knowledges and worldviews into ECEE.
A research project addressed this concern by integrating western and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge into two environmental studies topics in a kindergarten classroom in Northern Ghana. Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK), in the traditional Ghanaian context, “refers to a way of life with a cultural ethos of love, respect, responsibility, and reciprocity towards nature.” A “two-eyed seeing” approach was used to guide the research. With this approach, “both western science and Indigenous knowledge are valued for their explanatory power.” For this study, the Indigenous eye was represented by two Elders from the local Indigenous community; they worked with the children outdoors to teach them about the local environment. The western eye was represented by the environmental curriculum used at the school and the classroom teacher. In-depth interviews were conducted with the teacher and the Indigenous Elders at the beginning and end of the research project to get their input and feedback regarding the project. Interviews were conducted with nine children at the end of the study regarding their experiences during the project. The interview questions were co-developed, reviewed, and approved by a community advisory committee consisting of community members, Elders, Knowledge Keepers and education experts from the community.
From the interview responses, five themes related to children’s relationship with the environment were identified: language (anthropocentric language of the ECEE curriculum), ontological and epistemological implications (highlighting human inseparability from the environment and from non-human relatives), nature as a teacher (learning from nature about sustainable living), pedagogical disruptions (IEK teaching is integrative vs. ECEE which divides content into separate subjects), and engagement with real-world environmental problems (teaching via IEK requires teaching on the land and about local issues). These themes also relate to IEK’s inherent values of respect, reciprocity, and responsibility. The integration of IEK exposed the human-centric language and narrative of Ghana’s ECEE program. It also highlighted ways in which IEK promotes deeper relationships with nature and how different subject areas can be integrated versus taught as separate subjects.
This research indicates “that for ECEE to contribute towards transformation towards sustainability in Ghana, it must find ways to incorporate Indigenous content, especially, IEK, into programmes.” This research also shows that the integration of IEK into environmental education can help children develop positive environmental attitudes and values, while also connecting them to nature in a more relational way.
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