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Scientific Studies on Climate Change,
Children and Education: Current
Situation and Suggestions
Elif Ozturk
Giresun University
To cite this article:
Ozturk, O. (2023). Scientific studies on climate change, children and education: Current
situation and suggestions. Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health
(JESEH), 9(1), 16-28. https://doi.org/10.55549/jeseh.1231249
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Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health
Volume 9, Issue 1, 2023
https://doi.org/10.55549/jeseh.1231249
Scientific Studies on Climate Change, Children and Education:
Current Situation and Suggestions
Elif Ozturk
Article Info
Abstract
Article History
Published:
01 January 2023
Received:
01 February 2022
Climate change is at the top of the world's agenda due to the major problems it
creates. It is a subject that concerns all humanity and living things with its many
different dimensions, from economy to social life. However, it is children who
are most affected by the problems arising from climate change and will be
affected in the future. Within this scope, the aim of this study is to examine the
effects of climate change on children through the current literature and to
interpret the studies on this subject in Turkey. The research was conducted in a
qualitative way and content analysis method was used. The content of the study
was limited to researches focusing individuals aged 0-12, including early and late
childhood. National studies in Turkey on climate change for children and their
education are included in the scope. According to the results, there has been a
noticeable increase in studies on the effects of climate change on children and
their education, especially in the last five years. Furthermore, most of the studies
focus on examining dimensions such as knowledge, awareness, perception and
attitude. However, there is a great need at the moment to teach children, who are
the architects of the future, permanent environmentally and eco-friendly
behaviors.
Accepted:
16 May 2022
Keywords
Environmental Education
Climate Change
Children
Early Childhood
Introduction
Due to the consequences of climate change, it has been one of the problems that humanity has experienced the
most throughout history (Hosking et al., 2011). As many knows, massive changes have occurred in the lives of
people who have had to deal with these climate change sourcing problems; many people have been displaced
from their homes worldwide and some parents even stated that they are worried about the future of their
children (Akachi et al., 2009; McMichael, 2014). These concerns of parents can be understandable because by
the end of this century, our planet is predicted to will have warmed by an average of 2 degrees Celsius with
human activities (Hellden et al., 2021). Children have contributed the least to the climate crisis but will pay the
highest price. Children are undoubtedly the most affected by these problems; because they are not sufficiently
ready for the extraordinary consequences of climate change, as they have not yet reached a sufficient level in
terms of mental and physical development (Shea, 2007; Urbano et al., 2010). Therefore, children have to bear
the burden of climate change. The negative consequences of climate change are a danger that awaits children
even before they are born, because the child is fed with whatever the mother feeds while in the womb. The
nutrition of the mother also depends on the climatic conditions (Pacheco, 2020). Children are more sensitive to
the consequences of climate change, as they have not yet developed enough for themselves and are dependent
on others (Currie & Deschenes, 2016; Kousky, 2016).
The effects of climate disasters that the child is exposed to before birth have also been proven in
neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood (Perera, 2017). Among the climate problems that affect children are
the carbon emissions caused by fossil fuels and the effect of greenhouse gases. These can cause dangers such as
lung diseases, developmental disorders, low birth weight, childhood asthma and increased cancer risk in
children. Furthermore, children are the ones who will feel the deadliest effects of rising temperatures, drought,
water scarcity and air pollution. Children's need for water is much more than adults and need more water than
adults, which they need to consume per weight. The scarcity of water prevents some agricultural products from
growing. This leads to a decrease in meat consumption due to the nutrition of animals, which leads to the
inability of children to receive the necessary amount and quality of nutrients for their development (Godfray et.
al., 2018). 438,000 people died in 2015 alone from diseases such as poor water quality, malaria, diarrhea,
cholera, dengue fever and meningitis, and two-thirds of these are children under 5 years old (UNICEF, 2013;
UNICEF, 2015). Scarcity of water also causes people to migrate. When people migrate from where there is no
water, it is girls who are more affected. In unsafe conditions, girls are given the task of traveling long distances
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to bring water to the house. In the event of a possible disaster, girls are the first to leave the schools. It seems
that in the coming years, bigger threats await their children than they do now.
Although it is known that climate change affects every person, it also has some other significant effects on
children. It has been stated that, depending on the consequences it creates, especially after extraordinary climatic
events and natural disasters, depression, stress, phobia, sleep disorders, attachment disorders, anxiety and even
substance addiction can be seen in children, especially post-traumatic stress disorder (Burke et al., 2018).
Among the climate problems that affect children are the carbon emissions caused by fossil fuels and the effect
of greenhouse gases. These can cause dangers such as lung diseases, developmental disorders, low birth weight,
childhood asthma and increased cancer risk in children (Xu et al., 2012). Reducing the effect of greenhouse
gases alone means saving the lives of millions of children.
Another dimension of climate change that can be evaluated for children is its connection with children's rights.
Although the ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ does not specifically mention the issue of climate change,
it contains provisions regarding the need to protect children from the harmful effects of environmental pollution.
The rights of children who have become refugees as a result of migration due to climate change have been
emphasized (Arts, 2019).
Table 1. Articles related with global climate change in the “International Convention on the Rights of the Child”
Article No
Rights of the children related with climate change
Article 3:
Children's needs must be the top priority. Climate change studies should be
focused on countries that are more vulnerable in this regard.
Article 6:
Children have the right to survive and develop. Disasters such as drought,
epidemic, flood and hunger directly threaten the lives of children.
Article 9-10:
Children have the right not to leave their parents against their will. As a
result of climate change, millions of children are forced to leave their places
of residence and may even go out of the country.
Article 12:
Children have the right to have a say. The issue of climate change is an issue
that affects children and children should be able to have a say in this matter.
Article 24:
Children have the right to benefit from health services. Situations caused by
climate change may prevent children from benefiting from health services.
Article 27:
Children have the right to live with an adequate standard of living. Situations
related to climate change can affect children's living standards.
Article 28:
Children have the right to receive education. Children may have to postpone
or drop out of school due to natural disasters.
Articles 19,
32 and 34–
36:
Children have the right to be emancipated from all forms of violence and
exploitation. Children and their families can be away from their homes when
disasters due to climate change occur. This can lead to child abduction and
human trafficking.
Article 30:
Children have the right to an indigenous culture and language. Climate
change threatens ecosystems with close ties to indigenous culture.
Article 31:
Children have the right to create and play. As disasters related to climate
change threaten the child's environment (school, home…etc), children may
stay away from recreation and play activities.
(All of the provisions and the specific interpretations of the provisions belong to the International Convention
on the Rights of the Child and are quoted from the “UNICEF 2021 - The climate crisis is a child rights crisis:
Introducing the Children's Climate risk index” report)
As highlighted by many nations at 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), in
Glasgow, and by IPCC reports, reducing the effect of greenhouse gases alone means saving the lives of millions
of children. One billion children are at ‘extremely high risk’ from the impacts of climate change, according to a
Southampton-led consortium of researchers who conducted the analysis for a key UNICEF report that was
presented at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26. Entitled “The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis:
Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI)”, the report presents the first comprehensive worldwide
analysis of climate risk to children (UNICEF, 201). It combines different types of information – physical data,
such as floods and droughts, with social data, such as access to essential services – on a single map to show
governments across the globe where they most need to focus their resources to protect vulnerable children. In
addition, climate change produces hotter temperatures and worse air pollution—and that matters to a child’s
brain. Some studies conducted by Harvard University, have shown that heat and air pollution can influence
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everything from how a brain develops to how well a student does on a test. Many research studies have
suggested that the more particulate matter a child or teen breathes, the more their brain may be harmed (Harvard
T. H. Chan School of Public Health, 2021).
Figure 1. Distribution showing the risk of child and young population being affected by climate change-related
disasters (UNICEF, 2015)
Note: Approximately 1 billion children (nearly half of the world’s children) live in extremely high-risk countries
Figure 2. Children’s climate risk index atlas (UNICEF, 2021;
https://data.unicef.org/resources/childrens-climate-risk-index-report/)
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“What we found surprised us. The scale of exposure is even larger than we anticipated: there are very few
children in the world who are not exposed to some form of hazard – for example floods or heatwaves – resulting
from climate change,” says Hutton (2021) who led and conceptualized the risk mapping approach. From the
difference between both maps above, it can be seen that how much the situation has changed in just five years.
Also, one billion children are at ‘extremely high risk’ from the impacts of climate change, according to a
Southampton-led consortium of researchers who conducted the analysis for a key UNICEF report that was
presented at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). Considering all these effects of the climate
crisis on children, almost every country should focus on deeper and faster studies on this issue. Turkey is among
the countries that have been affected by the climate crisis in recent years. Flood disasters in many parts of the
country, widespread fires, catastrophic weather events that threaten the habitat of many living species make the
measures to be taken in this regard very essential. Undoubtedly, children, who will be adults of the future, will
be the individuals most affected by the above-mentioned effects today and tomorrow. At this point, the climate
studies carried out in the children's center in Turkey and their quality should be increased and shaped according
to the needs. For this reason, in this study, firstly, general trends and analyzes of existing studies were desired.
Within the scope of these effects mentioned above, the aim of this study is to examine the effects of climate
change on children through the current literature and to interpret the studies on this subject in Turkey. The
content of the study was limited to individuals aged 0-12, including early and late childhood. National studies in
Turkey on climate change for children and their education are included in the scope.
Method
The research was conducted in a qualitative way and content analysis method was used. This research, involves
purposeful use for describing, explaining, and interpreting collected data (Creswell, 2013). Leedy and Ormrod
(2001; p. 155) define this method as “a detailed and systematic examination of the contents of a particular body
of materials for the purpose of identifying patterns, themes, or biases”. In line with the purpose of the study, all
scientific studies and government-supported scientific projects in the field of education on children and climate
change in Turkey were included in the center. The study aims to describe the biometrical characteristics of the
theses, articles and scientific project reports published in educational journals reached through using
“environmental education, climate change, children” keywords. The aims, target age groups, methods, results
and general tendencies of these studies were tried to be examined in depth. The following steps were carried out
in the study, respectively: (1) Examination of the effects of climate change on children according to the common
literature and current scientific researches; (2) Examination of higher education-specific programs, research
centers and schools in the field of climate change and its effects in the education system in Turkey; (3)
Determining the scope and criteria to be included in the research; (4) Determination of scientific studies and
projects covering the early childhood and primary education period on climate change in Turkey and examining
their contents; (5) Analyzing and interpreting research data obtained in the context of children and climate
change in Turkey; (6) Developing further recommendations for educators, practitioners and researchers in terms
of studying global climate change and child as a result of the findings obtained.
The credibility of the results is considered one of the most important criteria of scientific research. Patton (2002)
states that validity and reliability are two factors which any qualitative researcher should be concerned about
while designing a study, analyzing results and judging the quality of the study. In this respect, validity and
reliability are the two most commonly used criteria in research. Errors such as handling inadequate results,
themes based on closed answers, misinterpreting data can jeopardize the credibility of the qualitative study.
Asking people who have general knowledge about the research subject and specialized in qualitative research
methods to examine the research from various dimensions is another measure that can be taken in terms of
credibility (Creswell, 2003). In this study, peer debriefing was preferred in order to make realistic and reliable
analyzes on the obtained documents. In this review, two other experts took a critical look at the processes from
the research design to the collected data, their analysis, and the writing of the results, and provided feedback to
the researcher.
Sampling and Limitations
The data for the study consisted of the theses, articles and scientific reports reached through Council of Higher
Education Thesis Center, Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and Art &
Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) international citation indexes, Scopus and Ulakbim TR Dizin database
published between 1988 and 2021 using “environmental education, climate change, children” keywords. As a
result of the initial scanning, 1988 is considered to be the starting date for this line of research since the first
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article on the subject matter was found to be published in. It should be noted that the sampling of the study has
some limitations. Firstly, the sample did not involve of all the publications on environmental education in the
related literature. The study is limited to the issue of climate change, which is included in environmental
education research. Additionally, the scope of the study is limited to related published work only in thesis and
research article format and does not cover conference papers, reviews, editorials, notes, letters, short surveys,
book chapters and books published on the topic. In addition, year of publication was also set to be another
limitation for the reasons mentioned earlier. There was no limitation regarding the publication language, and
thus, articles published in any language were included in the analyses. Finally, it should be stated that this study
is limited to the studies conducted in the center for 0-12 age group children and carried out in Turkey.
Data Collection
Since 1988, 138 topics have been researched as theses in the field of environmental education in the last 30
years in our country (see Graph 1); eleven studies of them are directly on climate change and especially seven of
them are focused on children. As a result of the scanning conducted; 7 theses, 5 research articles and 5
government-coordinates project reports publications in total were reached for this time period from past to
present year. For the aim of the study, search limitations such as publication type (i.e., journal article) and time
period were set. The analyses results for this sample of 19 studies revealed the findings related to the annual
distributions of the articles.
Data Analysis
In order to carry out content analysis, firstly determined researches (graduate theses and research articles and
government-supported projects conducted by Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change) were
listed. The basic information of each study was coded and the variables to be included in the study were tried to
be determined. At the end of the preliminary examination, each study examined in this research was divided into
subgroups of "Aims", "Research Methods", "Research Duration", "Study Groups", "Subject Areas", "Study
Types" and "Results", separated and analyzed. The data obtained as a result of the analyzes are presented in
tables and graphics.
Results
The findings and comments obtained from the studies are examined in this section. The obtained data are
presented to the reader under the determined sub-headings (purpose, research types, research method, research
durations, study groups, subject areas, results) in tables and graphics. Themes, codes and frequency values of
the related analysis are given in the tables and graphics.
First of all, it should be said that Turkey has taken a supportive stance and participated internationally in the
search for solutions since the years when environmental problems emerged on the world agenda (see Figure 3).
When we turn our focus to the educational situation on this subject, we encounter the following findings. In
Turkey, great importance has been given to environmental education for nearly 30 years. Many dimensions
related to the environment, from pre-school to higher education, have been included and implemented in
national educational programs. Looking at higher education, ‘Environmental Education’ course was made
compulsory in classroom teaching since 2007 and in early childhood teacher training undergraduate programs in
2018 (Council of Higher Education, 2018). These programs cover the training processes for the prevention of
the climate crisis more than in the past. Additionally, the trend of awareness, which has been developing and
increasing in the last 5 years, stands out in the context of climate change. Since 1988, 138 topics have been
researched as theses in the field of environmental education in the last 30 years in our country (see Graph 1).
Eleven studies of them are directly on climate change.
It is seen in the graph that scientific research on environmental education has been condensed since 2000. The
first study directly on climate change and children's education was conducted in 2013 and the number has
increased until this year. A large number of scientific studies have been identified on this subject. It is
noteworthy that researches have intensified especially in the last 20 years. There has been a noticeable increase
in studies on the effects of climate change on children and their education, especially in the last 5 years. This
situation is thought to be caused by a result of the reflection of the climate crisis and environmental problems in
our daily life.
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Figure 3. Timeline of Turkey’s international participation
Graph 1. Distribution of environmental education and climate change thesis in Turkey by years
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Table 2. Research articles published about global climate change and children in Turkey
Year
Author/
s
Journal
Theme
Sub-Theme
Sample/
Study
group
Results
2012
Article 1
(A1)
Erciyes
Medical
Journal
Climate
change
Effects of Climate
Change on Child
Health
Document
analysis
It has been determined
that climate change has
physical and mental
effects on children.
2017
Article 2
(A2)
Anatolian
Journal of
Teacher
Light
pollution
Students'
Perceptions of
Light Pollution
Children
age of 11
Bird species and sea
turtles, whose
populations are
decreasing due to light
pollution, attract the
attention of students.
2019
Article 3
(A3)
Baskent
University
Journal of
Education
Environmenta
l Problems
Investigation of
Secondary School
Students'
Cognitive
Structures for
Environmental
Problems
Through
Drawings
Children
age of 12
Environmental problems
are caused by humans.
Students do not have
knowledge about the
concepts of global
warming, greenhouse
effect and acid rain
.
2019
Article 4
(A4)
International
Primary
Education
Research
Journal
Unconscious
Consumption
of Natural
Resources and
Environmenta
l Problems
Determining the
Readiness Levels
of 6th Grade
Students about
Unconscious
Consumption of
Natural Resources
and
Environmental
Problems with
Cartoons
Children
age of 12
Children understood the
visual messages about
environmental problems
given in the cartoon, but
they could not diversify
the solutions.
2020
Article 5
(A5)
Journal of
Geography
Climate
Change
Education
Comparison of
Secondary School
Curriculums in
the World and in
Turkey According
to Climate
Change Education
Approach
Document
analysis
The principle of
integrating climate
change with local
elements, which is one of
the components of
climate change
education, is given
superficially in our
country's curriculum.
As seen in Table 2 and Table 3, there are more researches at the primary school level. It can be argued that there
is a greater need for educational content research on early childhood period. Most of the studies focus on
examining dimensions such as knowledge, awareness, perception and attitude (see Figure 4). However, there is
a great need at the moment to teach children, who are the architects of the future, permanent environmentally
and eco-friendly behaviors. A cleaner future can be talked about when knowledge and values turn into behavior.
Another source of data on climate change and children's education is government-supported projects. The
studies carried out within the scope of this subject by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanism and Climate
Change have been examined. Comprehensive projects covering various themes of environment, sustainability
and climate change were encountered. Also, it is seen that mixed methods are used in government-supported
projects and individuals from different age groups (children, teachers, parents, etc.) are included in the process.
Therefore, the wider segment of society is involved in the process.
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Table 3. National masters and doctoral theses on global climate change and children in Turkey
Year
Author
Institution/
organization
Theme
Sub-Theme
Sample/
Study
group
Results
2018
Theses 1 (T1)
Ankara
University
Climate
Change
Climate
Change in
Social Studies
Curriculum
and
Textbooks
Children
age of
10-11-
12-13
The reflection level of most of the
achievements determined for the
relationship between climate,
human and environment in the
textbooks was found sufficient.
2019
Theses 2 (T2)
Kastamonu
University
Climate
Change
The Effect of
the Climate
Change
Program
Applied to
Five-Year-Old
Children on
Children's
Views on the
Concept of
Climate
Change
Children
age of 5
It has been observed that the
climate change program applied to
5-year-old children has an effect on
children's views on the concept of
climate change.
2019
Theses 3 (T3)
Aksaray
University
Global
warming
Investigation
of Secondary
School
Students'
Knowledge
and
Perceptions of
Global
Warming
Children
age of
11-12-13
It has been observed that the
students have an average level of
knowledge about global warming,
the global warming knowledge
level of the students studying in the
5th grade is significantly higher
than the students at the other level,
and the out-of-school learning
environment has an effect on the
students.
2019
Theses 4 (T4)
Adnan
Menderes
University
Environmental
Education
Investigation
of Children’s
Books in Eco-
Schools in
terms of
Environmenta
l Education
Children
age of
0-6
It has been determined that the
books do not include the theme of
climate change at all.
2019
Theses 5 (T5)
Hacettepe
University
Environmental
Education,
Climate
Change
Investigation
of Primary
Education
Programs in
terms of
Sustainable
Development
Goals,
Environmenta
l Education
and Climate
Change
Children
age of
7-8-9-
10-11-12
-13-14
Some of the achievements of the
compulsory courses Life Science,
Science, Social Studies, History of
Revolution and Kemalism are
suitable for some goals.
2020
Theses 6 (T6)
Erzincan
Binali
Yildirim
University
Global
warming
6th Grade
Students'
Metaphors
and
Metaphorical
Perceptions
on Global
Warming
Children
age of 12
It has been determined that the
students are aware that everyone
should fulfill their duties and make
an effort to solve the problem of
global warming, which has become
a danger for living things and the
world.
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2020
Theses 7 (T7)
İstanbul
University
Climate
Change
Examining
Climate
Change
Education in
the World and
in Turkey and
Suggesting an
Education
Model
Children
age of 12
It has been determined that the
learning-teaching strategies chosen
in accordance with the climate
change education approach and the
teaching materials prepared
accordingly give positive results in
correcting the misconceptions about
climate issues.
Table 4. Government-coordinated projects (by MOEUCC) in the context of global climate change and children
in Turkey (Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment Urbanization and Climate Change, 2021)
Conclusion
Climate change is at the top of the world's agenda due to the major problems it creates. There is clear evidence
that it will exacerbate the underlying social, economic and ecological factors that cause global illness and death
for all age groups (Watts et al., 2018). It is a subject that concerns all humanity and living things with its many
different dimensions, from economy to social life. However, it is children who are most affected by the
problems arising from climate change and will be affected in the future. The natural and environmental disasters
that have been experienced for especially two years, inform us how quickly we need to move this issue to the
center of our lives. At the end of COP26, we can discuss for hours here the issues on which countries have
agreed and agreed. However, one important the dimension to emphasize is our “future”, that is, “our children
and youth”. Increased poverty from climate change could directly harm a child's mental wellbeing, with
particularly detrimental effects if natural disasters also increase (Hanna & Oliva, 2016). Sanson and Burke
(2020) also state climate change as an urgent issue of structural violence and intergenerational justice that
demands attention from psychologists, scholars, practitioners, activists and policy-makers, with particular
emphasis on the needs of current and future generations of children.
Project name
Target group
Theme
Sub-Theme
Purpose of Project
Development
of Awareness
Project on
Climate
Change
Starting from
kindergarten and
preschool,
students at all
levels, preservice
teachers, teachers,
local governments
Global climate
change
---
Increasing the awareness of
students, teachers and local
governments about climate
change.
The Voice of
Meteorology
Primary and
secondary school
students
Environment
Climate, climate
change,
meteorology,
meteorological
disasters,
renewable energy
systems
The aim is to raise awareness with
Meteor FM radio broadcasts on
environmental issues such as
climate, climate change,
meteorology, meteorological
disasters, and renewable energy
systems.
Family
Education
Program
Parents
Education
Global warming,
greenhouse effect,
communication,
law, economy,
health, media,
energy saving
The aim is parent education on
global warming, greenhouse
effect, communication, law,
economy, health, media, energy
saving.
Water
Ambassadors
Preschool,
Primary,
Secondary and
Higher Education
students, teachers,
parents
Water use
Environmental
protection,
sustainability,
climate change
The aim is to increase the level of
knowledge about the use of water
resources, to protect the
environment and to differentiate
usage habits.
Energy Child
Project
primary school
students
Energy
efficiency
Global warming
The aim is to teach children the
use of energy.
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J Educ Sci Environ Health
Figure 4. Research topics of scientific studies on climate change and children in Turkey
As being adults of today, although we take urgent precautions, it will be possible to overcome the problems and
get long term results only with the education of our children. Focusing on children also helps us to see the
injustice and urgency of addressing climate change and encouraging the current adult generation to recognize its
responsibilities and “moral duty” (Cripps, 2017) to ensure that today’s children and their descendants will have
the basic conditions for flourishing (Sanson & Burke, 2020). I thought that in order to be able to decide better
what we can do about this issue; we should first look at “how Turkey is” in this regard. For this purpose, it is
examined that the current scientific researches on education and projects carried out by the ministry on climate
change in our country. Thence, the aim of this study is to examine the effects of climate change on children
through the current literature and to interpret the studies on this subject in Turkey. This purpose coincides with
the implication of Currie and Deschenes (2016). They imply and emphasized that in states, cities, and
communities all over the world must promote preparedness and resilience for the effects of climate change
especially for children.
When the scientific studies reached are examined, it is clearly evident that environmental education has been
given great importance for many years in Turkey. When it comes to the education of children, environmental
education has been made compulsory in pre-school and primary school education programs and teacher training
programs in the last 10 years (Council of Higher Education, 2018). These programs cover the training processes
for the prevention of the climate crisis more than in the past. A large number of scientific studies have been
identified on this subject. It is noteworthy that researches have intensified especially in the last 20 years (see
Graph 1). There has been a noticeable increase in studies on the effects of climate change on children and their
education, especially in the last 5 years. This situation is a result of the reflection of the climate crisis and
environmental problems in daily life. Another result obtained, there are more researches at the primary school
level. In addition to these, it appears to be that there is a greater need for educational content research on early
childhood period.
According to another result, most of the studies focus on examining dimensions such as knowledge, awareness,
perception and attitude. However, it is thought that there is requirement for applied and more educational studies
to teach children, who are the architects of the future, for further permanent environmentally and eco-friendly
behaviors. A cleaner future can be talked about when knowledge and values turn into behavior. It is seen that
mixed methods are used in government-supported projects and individuals from different age groups (children,
teachers, parents, etc.) are included in the process. Therefore, the wider segment of society is involved in the
process.
26
Ozturk
Recommendations for Further Research and Policy
As a result of the results obtained in this study, many suggestions come to the fore on climate change, children
and their education. In this regard, both researchers and educators and government units have crucial roles. The
following recommendations are presented in order:
In solutions, it is necessary to prioritize the most vulnerable segments, the first of which is children. Children
should be provided with climate education and nature skills that are critical to adapting to and preparing for the
impacts of climate change. By developing qualified education programs, children should be able to interact
more with the environment; thus, they should be supported to develop ecocentric attitudes. Moreover, children's
ideas on climate change should be listened to and action should be taken. Within the scope of this purpose,
theoretical and practical educations that will raise environmental and climate awareness for children should be
increased. Country governments should reduce the existing inequalities (especially in financial terms) regarding
the climate among their children. While making future plans for climate change, investments for children should
also be planned. Climate adaptation and resilience investments should be increased in basic services for
children. It is recommended that as much as possible, everyone should be involved in this process.
At the higher education level, some other suggestions have been considered in the dimension of climate change,
children and their education in the country. In fact, these can be an action plan for Turkey. First off, climate
change departments and research centers should be established in more universities across the country. In this
country, there are very few academic programs directly on climate change and education. There is a necessity to
establish departments, institutes and even schools in the field of sustainability and climate change. In addition, a
consortium should be offered students opportunities to become well versed in the interconnected challenges of
climate change. Must courses on climate change and its effects in teacher training programs. It is strongly
recommended that more detailed and diversified mandatory or elective courses should be added to the teacher
training programs who will give this education to our children. Hence, there is a need to carry out more
scientific researches. Academics, researchers and scientists working in different faculties and working on
different disciplines should do more scientific research on the climate crisis, education and children. There
should be an increase in the theses produced on this subject.
Another suggestion is that children and young people should be empowered to be agents of change. Children's
ideas on climate change should be listened to and action should be taken. Theoretical and practical educations
that will raise environmental and climate awareness for children should be increased. By developing qualified
education programs, children should be able to interact more with the environment; thus, they should be
supported to develop ecocentric attitudes. Children should be provided with climate education and nature skills
that are critical to adapting to and preparing for the impacts of climate change.
Scientific Ethics Declaration
The author declares that the scientific ethical and legal responsibility of this article published in JESEH journal
belongs to the author.
Acknowledgements or Notes
*This research was presented as an oral presentation at the United Nations 26th Climate Change Conference of
Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.
*Special thanks to my dear students as being preservice early childhood teachers Ismail Cem Besikci and
Rukiye Nur Saygili for their contribution to this study.
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Author Information
Elif Ozturk
Giresun University
Giresun University Faculty of Education 28100 Giresun, Turkey
Contact e-mail: elif.ozturk@giresun.edu.tr
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