Peer-reviewed article
A review of research on the Anthropocene in early childhood education
Hanna Sjögren ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This is a literature review of 19 peer-reviewed articles from 2015-2020 examining how the concept of the Anthropocene (the human-dominated geological epoch) is discussed in early childhood education research. The review uses analytical concepts from environmental history and childhood sociology to categorize children as either 'entangled' or 'extraordinary' in relation to the Anthropocene. The work identifies research gaps and discusses implications for educational purposes in the context of environmental change.
Key points
- The review analysed 19 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2020
- Two main categories emerged: 'entangled children of the Anthropocene' and 'extraordinary children of the Anthropocene'
- The review uses analytical concepts from environmental history and sociology of childhood
- The work identifies research gaps in how early childhood education addresses the Anthropocene
- The review discusses different challenges these conceptualizations pose to the purpose of education
Limitations
This is a review of literature rather than an empirical study or evaluation of an intervention. It does not provide direct evidence about child well-being outcomes or the effectiveness of specific practices in early childhood education.
Abstract
This literature review describes and analyses 19 peer-reviewed scholarly articles published between 2015 and 2020 that focus on the notion of the Anthropocene in early childhood education. The review is guided by two pairs of analytical concepts stemming from environmental history and the sociology of childhood. The results of the analyses are presented under the themes ‘entangled children of the Anthropocene’ and ‘extraordinary children of the Anthropocene’. These two categories of children recur in the reviewed articles, and a discussion follows about how these children pose different challenges to the purpose of education in the Anthropocene. The review concludes by noting research gaps in the current literature that would benefit from further analysis in future studies in the early childhood education field.