Climate change poses the most significant threat to children by way of environmental risk factors. Toxic natural environments have begun to negatively impact the physical and mental well-being of children. A child's physical and mental health are still in the developing stages and thus are more vulnerable to the immediate adverse effects of climate change.
In March 2020, countries world-wide responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing lockdowns and strict policies to protect the health and well-being of their citizens. In-person instruction ceased, and teachers and students had to adapt to distance education and virtual technology, which were new informal learning settings. These challenges were exacerbated in education in Galápagos, Ecuador, due to the archipelago's remote location from the mainland, lack of financial and educational resources, and poor internet connectivity.
Arts-based pedagogies have become popular in environmental education (EE) to enhance students' experience and develop interdisciplinary leaders and thinkers for climate change issues. Dance improvisation offers an opportunity for students to blur the human-nature delineation through body movement to understand the relationship of environmental changes on humans and human action on environments. In particular, dance improvisation may help young students embody weather and discover that weather actively happens all the time, not just when the student is outside experiencing the weather.
Environmental education plays a pivotal role in a child's development of place attachment, an individual's affinity for a particular place in nature, and connection with nature, the individual's personal relationship with nature despite its location. Previous research has shown when children experience and appreciate nature, they will be more likely to care for the environment and adopt pro-environmental behaviors. Further, children can develop a stronger sense of place attachment and connection to nature earlier in life compared to when they are older.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered many countries to impose lockdowns to keep their citizens safe and healthy. These policies negatively impacted society and the economy and illuminated environmental injustices. For example, people in urban areas, particularly disadvantaged groups, had fewer opportunities to be in green spaces due to the closing of community areas and lack of access to natural settings. Research has shown that simply being in nature can improve mental and physical health, both of which was negatively impacted for many during strict lockdowns.
As the climate crisis continues, universities are uniquely positioned to effectively prepare future alumni to engage in sustainable behaviors and create a resilient future. Despite the steps to develop sustainability efforts and curricula in higher education, it is imperative to acknowledge the influences on a students' understanding about environmental issues and solutions.
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is important to integrate into all ages of learning. In Sweden, ESD for preschoolers currently consists of teaching about the environment, and less so about environmental issues and solutions. There are two common methods of teaching to preschoolers. Normative teaching practice is defined as using traditional teaching methods to teach children, it is fact-based, such as teaching kids what can be recycled. The teacher has a crucial influence on the learning in this context.
As the threats of climate change and ecological endangerment become more complex, the need for education about ecological endangerment in schools must be a priority. It is often anthropocentrism, the view that humans are the center of the universe, that produces such harmful views of natural surroundings as places of exploitation for humans. In this study, children ages 2 to 12 years old visited the endangered Noorook Yalgorup-Lake Clifton thrombolites in Australia.
Spending time in natural settings has proven to be physically and psychologically beneficial for humans, and environmental education aims to reconnect youth to nature. However, it has become a reality that children and young people spend less time outdoors, which has been dubbed, nature-deficit disorder. The London-based Green Spaces, Learning Places (GSLP) creates opportunities for children to engage with their environment through interactive learning sessions in the United Kingdom's parks, heaths, and forests.
The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated some shortcomings of the educational system in the United States, particularly in environmental education concerning equitable policymaking. For instance, socio-political context can constrain effective decision-making and exacerbate the social inequities in the United States and the world, such as food insecurity or the lack of resources for virtual learning in marginalized communities brought on by the pandemic.