Environmental Education in Kindergarten
Heny Djoehaeni, Mubiar Agustin and Asep Deni Gustina
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229, Bandung, Indonesia
henydjoe@upi.edu
Keywords: Environmental education, early childhood learning.
Abstract: Issues relating to the environment is a global issue that demands attention from various sectors including
education. In early childhood education, environmental education becomes the starting point for early
childhood awareness in the environment around them. The horizon of appreciation of this ecological linkage
will be more profound and widespread when supported by a planned and sustainable environmental education
praxis. Four key principles that can be used as guidance in guiding action that is in harmony with the
environment are reduce waste and save on the goods available, reuse, recycling and replanting in order to
preserve nature. The application of these four principles in daily life requires the support of adults around the
child who will be the facilitator for the child in an effort to understand and love the environment. The success
of environmental education for early childhood should be implemented through an integrated learning
process, an exemplary element of the teacher as well as opportunities for children to take concrete action
related to environmental education. This discussion will be focus on conceptualization of environmental
education and its implementation in early childhood setting.
1 INTRODUCTION
The living environment is an inseparable part of the
people’s life. Throughout their life, people really
depend on the condition of the surrounding
environment. The changes occur in the environment
will directly affect the people’s life quality. The poor
environment management happened because of the
lack of people’s awareness in preserving the nature,
ignorance and the lack of understanding about the
surrounding environmental conservation, thus it gave
a very significant effect in their life. The issues
related with the environment is a global issue that
demands the attention from many sectors including
education.
The environmental education has a very important
role in overcoming the environment issues today. As
stated by Seefeldt (1989) that currently the necessity
of environmental education is very critical. The
environmental problems as well as the decreasing
natural resources became a concern that led to the
attention and concern of environmental education.
The environmental education introduced early is
expected to be able to develop positive behavior
toward the environment sustainability. This is in
accordance with the statement from Sutrisno et al.
(2005) that the introduction of the surrounding
environment through early environmental education
to the kids is an initial step for the kids to appreciate
the environment.
In the Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 23 in
1997 (UU RI No. 23, 1997) on the Management of
the Environment, it is stated that the Environmental
Education is defined as the means to change the
behavior and attitude acted by various parties or
elements with the aims to improve the knowledge,
skills and awareness of the people about the
environmental values and environmental issues
which eventually will move the people to actively
participate in the act of preservation and safety of the
environment for the benefit of the current and next
generations.
The early childhood education program is the
foundation to develop the individual characters for
the future. Many experts stated that the early
education is a very fundamental stage for the next
development and education. The Victorian
Environmental Education Council (1992) stated that
the learning experience in early age is the foundation
for the next learning experience. Some of the basic
Djoehaeni, H., Agustin, M. and Gustina, A.
Environmental Education in Kindergarten.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences (ICES 2017) - Volume 1, pages 173-177
ISBN: 978-989-758-314-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
173
qualities of the importance of the environmental
education are creativity, teamwork, environment
preservation, appreciation toward the reusable
resources as well as the understanding of the
correlation of life on the earth that can be significantly
developed since early age.
Some researches revealed the importance of the
environmental education, such as the statement from
Chen and Cheng in their research (2008) which stated
that the Environmental Education is a very important
tool in providing knowledge, positive attitudes
toward the environment and establishment of the
skills to protect and improve the environment quality.
Regarding to the limitation of the source of funds and
the increasing number of environmental challenges,
the effective environmental education program.
Therefore, it will be very important for the parents,
teachers and other adults to identify early age as well
as apply the proper strategy to help the kids have high
awareness regarding the environment preservation.
This paper will review the environmental
education study in early childhood. The aims of this
research is to give knowledge about the importance
of environmental education in early childhood and to
find out the if implementation of the environmental
education study is in accordance with the
characteristics and needs of the kids as well as the
kids’ environment characteristics.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Early Childhood Education
The education for early childhood has a close
correlation with the underlying study theory. The
study theory that underlies the application of the
environmental study to the early childhood kids is the
constructivism theory. In the constructivist
perspective, the environment maturity and experience
play an important role in the learning process. Based
on this theory, the knowledge is basically built by the
kids through the interaction with the environment.
The constructivists is based on the Piaget research
which showed that basically the kids actively
interpreted their physical and social experiences as
well as developing the knowledge, intelligence as
well as their morality. The kids develop their own
knowledge since they have many ideas that are in fact
never taught to them (Masitoh: 2003). Similar to that,
Coughlin (2000) stated that, the constructivists
believed that the learning occurred when the kids are
trying to understand the world around them. The
learning is an interactive process that involves
friends, adults and the environment. In the
constructivists point of view, the kids are seen as
active learners that develop their own understanding.
The constructivism is a theory about the
knowledge structure. Kamii and DeVries as quoted in
Branscome (2003) stated that the constructivism is a
knowledge theory that emphasizes on each person’s
role in developing their own knowledge instead of
directly absorbing from the environment. The focus
on the kids is a knowledge creation, not on the
repetition on what others think is an important
knowledge. The constructivists are based on the
research conducted by Piaget which showed that
basically kids actively interpret their experience in the
physical and social world to develop their own
knowledge, intelligence and morality. The kids build
their own knowledge since they have many ideas. In
the constructivists point of view, the maturity and
environmental experience play an important role in
the learning process. Based on this perspective, the
knowledge is basically built by the kids through their
interaction with the environment.
Branscome (2003) also stated that when one built
his knowledge, he usually went to the stage of
disagreement or disharmony with others’ thoughts,
usually with people with more experience. The
constructivists gave a strong support to the change of
one’s thinking paradigm after he considered the
opinions and ideas of others. The acceptance of the
thoughts that have been changed or fixed would give
many chances for the students to improve their
knowledge as well as to improve their thoughts.
The constructivists understanding was initiated
by two psychologists, Jean Piaget and Lev Vigotsky.
Basically, they had understood the constructivist’s
assumptions that kids actively develop the
knowledge. The kids developed the knowledge based
on their experience, which was earned by the kids
who actively developed their own selves through
interaction with the environment. Based on this
understanding, the kids are not passive individuals
who only earned their knowledge from others. The
kids are actively learning beings who are able to
create and develop their own knowledge (Rogoff,
1990). Based on the prior assumption, it can be seen
that this approach emphasizes on the importance of
the kids’ involvement in the learning process.
Therefore, the teacher must be able to create fun and
warm learning environment through games and
interactions with the environment to encourage active
participation from the kids. This approach is also
related with the individuals’ variation factors owned
by the kids.
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In relation with the development process, Piaget
(Roopnaire and Johnson: 1993) explained that the
kid’s development occurred through universal
sequence and every development stage is marked
with particular characteristics in thinking and doing.
Basically, the thinking development process is shifted
from concrete thinking to abstract thinking.
Meanwhile, Lev Vigotsky believed that the social
context is very important in the kids’ learning
process. The social interaction experience holds an
important role in developing the kids’ thinking
ability. The interaction between the kids and the
social environment will create new forms of high
mental activities. Rogoff (1990) stated that based on
Vigotsky, the skill in using the culture tools is the core
of social interaction role, and the interaction with the
experts can be similar with the adults in guiding the
kids’ cognitive development. Piaget and Vigotsky
emphasized on the importance of playing as the
facility of the kids’ education, particularly the ones
related with the thinking capacity development.
Creativity is very important to develop, particularly
for kids in early childhood. Kids, who are directed to
create something, must also directed to look for and
explore new ideas so that the will be more reliable
when facing the issues or problems that need to be
solved. The interaction conducted by the kids with the
surrounding environment, whether with adults and
peers, can give valuable experience for them since it
can help them develop their language skill to
communicate and socialize. Last but not least, by
interacting, the kids will learn to understand others’
feeling and respect others’ opinions, so it is indirectly
train them to express their emotions.
2.2 Environmental Education Review
Stapp (1979) stated that the environmental education
is a process to develop the world citizen who are fully
mindful and aware of the environment and the
problems related to the environment, and who have
the knowledge, behavior, motivation, commitment,
and skills to work individually or in teams for the
solutions of the current problems and the preventions
of the new coming problems.
In line with the this, Eco Schools Program (1998)
stated that basically, the environmental education in
schools are to bring changes in the students’ behavior
and values as human beings in interacting with all
environmental components. When the school
established the practical environment sound program,
the students would actively participate in improving
the school’s environment quality. In most part of this
case, the best result would be achieved if conducted
with the support and the participation from the
society, including the government departments and
non-government institutions. When the students see
that they give realistic contribution to the
environment, they would study with more goals, their
motivation would increase and their self-esteem will
be higher.
Kinsella (208) stated that in today society, we are
becoming more aware of the global warming, climate
change and planet welfare as well as the habitat for
the future generations. As parents and caregivers, we
are often worried about the future of our kids and
many of us feel that we can do more in daily life to
contribute in the solution and in the cause of the
environmental problems. On the other hand, Kinsella
(2008) also stated that our house and the society is the
place where we raise our kids, so it is rational to want
to preserve our house to be safe and healthy for them
to grow and learn. We know that the kids learn from
the interaction with their family caregivers and
environment, so that through what we do in our daily
life, we can start to involve the kids to learn take care
of their surrounding environment.
3 METHODS
The methodology used is the Literature Review by
reviewing and analysing various sources related with
the writing theme. The review topic is related with the
environmental education and the application on kids
in early childhood.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section will be discussed matters related to
environmental education in kindergarten.
4.1 Environmental Education Scope
Environmental education is basically an effort to
instilling individual care for the environment.
Environmental education that is planted early on will
foster positive attitude of children to the environment.
Sutrisno et al. (2005) stated that the introduction of
the surrounding nature through environmental
education to the kids is the initial step for the kids to
respect the environment. Further, Sutrisno (2005)
stated that the concern toward the environment can be
grown in the kids since their early childhood.
Therefore, the most successful and relatively fast as
Environmental Education in Kindergarten
175
well as satisfying way is to teach kids love the
environment.
On other parts, Sutrisno (2005) stated that through
direct interaction with the environment will raise new
appreciation within the kids about the ecological
correlation. The appreciation horizon of the
ecological correlation will be deeper and wider if
supported by the planned and continuous
environmental education practice. Environmental
education is closely related to daily activities
In relation with the scope of the environmental
education, Sutrisno (2005) stated four main principles
as the guidelines in guiding the action in accordance
with the environment, namely:
Reducing wastes and being provident of the
available goods;
Reusing;
Recycling;
Replanting in order to preserve the nature.
The application of the four principles in daily life
need the support of the adults around the kids that will
be the facilitators in order to understand and love the
environment. The success of the environmental
education for the kids is supposed to be conducted
through integrated learning, the presence of the role
model from the teachers and the chances for the kids
to do real actions that are related with the
environmental education.
Kinsella (2008) stated that in order to involve
children in learning about taking care of the world
around them, there are six areas of sustainability
education:
Energy saving
Water conservation
Waste minimisation-rethink, reduce, reuse,
recycle
Gardening and composting
Sustainable food practices
Green play experience
In practice, the basic principles and areas of
environmental education should be accordance with
the characteristics of early childhood. Teachers have
a very important role to create a fun and meaningful
learning for children.
4.2 Environmental Education Learning
Strategy
A meaningful learning for the kids is the learning that
is in accordance with their interest and needs. The
environmental education delivered to the kids will be
meaningful if related with the context of where the
kids are. This is in accordance with the opinion of
Adisenjaya (file.upi.edu) that the environmental
education can be taught by applying the contextual
approach.
The educational model developed in the
environmental education for kids in early childhood
is the inquiry process based Contextual Learning
Model. This model is seen appropriate since the early
childhood education will be more meaningful if
conducted through activities close to the kids’ daily
life and conducted through direct experiences.
The contextual approach is the learning approach
that facilitates the students to find, process and look
for learning experience that are more concrete and
related with the real life.
Johnson (2007) stated that the contextual learning
involves the kids in important activities that help
them to relate the academicals education and the
context that they face in real life. By connecting both,
the kids will see the meaning in the school
assignments.
The contextual learning model gives the emphasis
on the learning by doing. This will push the kids to
learn actively by doing the activities arranged by the
teachers or the students. Based on Johnson (2007), the
learning components and the contextual learning that
include the active and hands on learning practices, for
instance, continuously challenge the kids to create.
The steps of the application of the contextual
approach in the class are as follows:
(MKDP Curriculum and Learning Development
Team: 2009)
To develop the thoughts that students will study
more meaningfully by working alone, finding
themselves and constructing the knowledge and
skills by themselves;
To do inquiry activities (with observation
cycles, asking, hypothesized, data collection,
and conclusion).
To develop students’ curiosity by raising
questions.
To create learning society such as group
activities, discussion, question and answer
session, etc.
To present model as learning example. It can be
through illustration, model and even real media.
To accustom the kids to reflect on every
conducted learning activity.
To assess objectively, to assess the students’ real
ability.
The learning steps conducted in this contextual
approach is further aligned with the learning activities
conducted daily that includes opening, main, break,
and closing.
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176
5 CONCLUSIONS
The environmental education has a very important
role in overcoming the current environmental issues.
The environmental education introduced early is
expected to develop positive behavior toward the
environment preservation. Therefore, the teachers
need to develop the learning strategies that are
appropriate with the characteristics and needs of the
kids in early childhood. The challenging direct
experience is the foundation for the teachers to
arrange the proper strategy. The environmental
education will be more meaningful if conducted with
contextual approach that is more concrete. The four
principles of the environmental education are to
reduce wastes, reuse, recycle and replant, those can
be the references for the teachers in planning the
environmental education activities that are fun for the
kids in early childhood.
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