DOI
10.1177/2096531119893306

Summary
This article is relevant to the education for sustainable futures based on play and science activities. The purpose of the study is to recommend a method of education to support emergent science and sustainability. Broström & Frøkjær use an unconventional methods of combined knowledge drawl from various action research projects and personal observations under the preschool setting. The authors introduced the topic by detailing the background of education for sustainable development in Danish early childhood education. Here, they discuss some of the research projects that have contributed to the study. In Denmark the 2018 curriculum focuses on six educational games that include social and personal development, language, movement, and aestehics, as well as the theme nature, outdoor life, and science which in turn contribute to sustainability education. The authors make reference to a study conducted on waste education which includes the teaching of children to correctly dispose of waste products in the classroom. They state that there is potential here for a much wider educational potential in waste and waste practices than simply making sure that the waste reaches the waste bin. The potential that exists here is the possibility of making a clear connection between reusing waste products for further learning activities such as art classes and projects. The suggestion of assigning a child’s own waste treasure chest as a tool to develop the understanding of “reuse reduce and respect”.

The author is described a play based education program. It is described here as an active and challenging learning environment which inspire children’s emergent science and sustainability understanding.

The authors provide for principles that this date may be useful in bringing early childhood education in the direction of sustainable development teaching.




Address the issues associated with the classroom for example saving water and electricity, repairing old toys, sorting of rubbish, and composting of green kitchen waste.
Create a dynamic indoor and outdoor learning experience in which the children can interact with nature and sustainability teams for example experiments using sun and wind energy.
Develop scientific play world from a Childs perspective with chill with their curiosity and wonder in mind.
Meaningful, interesting, and deep learning opportunities can arise from children’s questions via social interaction and shared investigative of activities.




Figures 1 to 5 demonstrate examples of the above principles in action.

 

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
This study is relevant to the sustainable development topic. It addresses the education of sustainable development at an early school preschool level. The paper does not directly deal with systems thinking or complex systems knowledge, however, it does provide insight into the development of early childhood sustainable development understanding.

The paper as a whole contributes to the reimagining of education at an early childhood level. Although it does not directly associate with HEIs, the findings may still be useful if realigned for the desired setting.

Point of Strength
The article outlines for principles that may be useful for the reimagining of early childhood education in the direction of sustainable development teaching. The article addresses play-based education and the benefits that are associated with it. For this reason, the article could be considered a useful resource for teaching.