Book Description

The purpose of this publication is to establish a rationale for early childhood environmental education and to offer some guidelines and suggestions for planning and implementing developmentally appropriate environmental education programs for preschool children. This monograph is divided into four major sections. Part 1 outlines the rationale for early childhood environmental education and includes contributions from researchers both in the United States and the United Kingdom. Part 2 presents philosophical and research perspectives relating to environmental education for preschool children. It also outlines some of the major developmental characteristics of children during the early childhood years, especially in relation to cognitive and moral development. Part 3 provides specific guidelines and suggestions for developing and implementing environmental education programs at the early childhood level, thus establishing a framework for quality in such programs. Highlighted in Part 4 are existing programs offering environmental education for pre-school children. These programs include early childhood centers offering a nature-based curriculum and environmental education centers offering preschool programs. The final sections of this monograph offer information on efforts to establish international networking, an annotated list of selected resources, and biographical information on the contributors to the monograph. (JRH)