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Forest-themed preschool environmental program integrating environmental ethics across four thematic units with empathy-building techniques

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

A semester-long interdisciplinary program (January to June 2002) comprising seventy five designed activities and fifteen emerging activities, organized in four units: Trees, Animals, Risks to the forest, and Protection of the forest. It aims at fostering environmentally friendly attitudes through knowledge acquisition, feelings of care and responsibility, forming values and rules of pro-environmental behaviour, and strengthening environmentally friendly action. Techniques include outdoor experiential games, literature and role-playing, inductive discussion, values-education strategies, and eco-management actions such as cleaning the forest and planting trees.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Children in direct contact with the natural environment
  • Techniques promoting feelings, especially empathy
  • Children playing an active role in creating behavior rules rather than rules stated as absolute truths

Constraints

  • Implemented with a single convenience-sample kindergarten class; results not generalisable since the sample does not represent the population as a whole

Target Learners

  • five-year-old kindergartners

Learning Goals

  • environmental values
  • empathy for non-human beings
  • pro-environmental behavior rules and action

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Lithoxoidou, L. S., Georgopoulos, A. D., Dimitriou, A. Th., & Xenitidou, S. Ch. (2017). “Trees have a soul too!” Developing Empathy and Environmental Values in Early Childhood. International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 5(1). https://naaee.org
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id forest-empathy-preschool-program-pattern
title Forest-themed preschool environmental program integrating environmental ethics across four thematic units with empathy-building techniques
description A semester-long interdisciplinary program (January to June 2002) comprising seventy five designed activities and fifteen emerging activities, organized in four units: Trees, Animals, Risks to the forest, and Protectio...
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-02
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — lithoxoidou-2017

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