Action-oriented climate change education through socioscientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) in early childhood classrooms in China: teachers’ professional development
Action-oriented climate change education through socioscientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) in early childhood classrooms in China: teachers’ professional development
Education is regarded as one of the most important actions for addressing climate change. However, students do not receive sufficient climate change education in schools due to teachers’ limited background knowledge, which is not enough to support them in teaching interdisciplinary subjects, especially early childhood children, who are usually ignored as agents who are too young to address climate change. This presentation mainly discusses the design principles for supporting in-service teachers in teaching climate change to children in early childhood through a systematic approach to socioscientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL), within a teacher professional development (TPD) programme in China. The TPD programme was piloted by trying out the workshop activities and gaining participants' feedback through focus groups. The findings reveal how to design useful workshops to support teachers' learning: (1) Providing scaffolds when doing activities; (2)Promoting active learning in teachers' learning process and experience; (3) Providing teaching examples to facilitate the translation of theory into practice; and (4) Using the digital communication platforms to reduce the pressure of sharing in public. This presentation also discusses the current state of implementing climate change education in China, the age-appropriate ways of teaching young children about climate change and how to address eco-anxiety during learning and teaching.
Early childhood education, climate change education
Song, Jingwen
122fa2db-acdb-4ade-a94d-58c75ad6c52b
1 June 2024
Song, Jingwen
122fa2db-acdb-4ade-a94d-58c75ad6c52b
Song, Jingwen
(2024)
Action-oriented climate change education through socioscientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) in early childhood classrooms in China: teachers’ professional development.
International Conference for Research in Early Childhood Education and Development (InCRECE), The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
01 - 03 Jun 2024.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Education is regarded as one of the most important actions for addressing climate change. However, students do not receive sufficient climate change education in schools due to teachers’ limited background knowledge, which is not enough to support them in teaching interdisciplinary subjects, especially early childhood children, who are usually ignored as agents who are too young to address climate change. This presentation mainly discusses the design principles for supporting in-service teachers in teaching climate change to children in early childhood through a systematic approach to socioscientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL), within a teacher professional development (TPD) programme in China. The TPD programme was piloted by trying out the workshop activities and gaining participants' feedback through focus groups. The findings reveal how to design useful workshops to support teachers' learning: (1) Providing scaffolds when doing activities; (2)Promoting active learning in teachers' learning process and experience; (3) Providing teaching examples to facilitate the translation of theory into practice; and (4) Using the digital communication platforms to reduce the pressure of sharing in public. This presentation also discusses the current state of implementing climate change education in China, the age-appropriate ways of teaching young children about climate change and how to address eco-anxiety during learning and teaching.
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Published date: 1 June 2024
Venue - Dates:
International Conference for Research in Early Childhood Education and Development (InCRECE), The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, 2024-06-01 - 2024-06-03
Keywords:
Early childhood education, climate change education
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 509408
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509408
PURE UUID: 6b7895fc-47ab-444c-98ec-898341c88df9
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Date deposited: 20 Feb 2026 17:44
Last modified: 21 Feb 2026 03:09
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Author:
Jingwen Song
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