Life Cycle Thinking and Early Childhood Education: Mapping Life Cycle Thinking Concepts to Experiential Learning Activities in Early Childhood Education

Sammanfattning

Aim: This study aims to examine how Life Cycle Thinking can be introduced in Early Childhood education, as well as the pedagogical approaches used to generate Life Cycle Thinking, to compare the structural similarities of educational activities in Early Childhood Education. Theory: David, A Kolb’s experiential learning emphasises that learning occurs through a continuous process that builds from a personal experience through involvement, interactions, or cognitive reaction through a holistic perspective that allows all senses to be engaged. The experimental learning theory follows a four-step cycle of learning beginning with a Concrete experience (CE), which involves an active engagement in a new activity or situation, reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualisation (AC), and active experimentation (AE) with an emphasis on continuous interaction and experimentation of the social and physical environment (Kolb, 1984). These concepts and principles establish the framework for examining how life cycle learning activities may fit into the learning activities of early childhood education.Method: This literature review study follows a qualitative research approach. Data was collected through peer-reviewed articles and journals. This data was analysed through an inductive coding process to allow themes to form from the texts without relying on predetermined assumptions (Braun & Clarke, 2006).Results: This study shows that the pedagogical structures used for teaching life cycle thinking are similar to the approaches used in sustainability education in early childhood. Both structures follow an experiential learning cycle that integrates experiences and observations to form concepts and allows for experimentation. A key finding reveals that an early aspect of life cycle thinking is currently present within ECE through forms of material flow between systems. The inductive themes highlight that LCT is developed through communication, where reflections and concepts are formed, often using hands-on and visual activities that generate concrete experiences, as well as gameplay or role-plays. Similarly, ECE relies on communication to facilitate reflection and aid in concept formation through teacher-led play and narrative activities, utilizing gameplay and role-playing. The similarities in pedagogical structures and activities create a potential bridge, which could allow ECE to expand its early approaches to life cycle thinking into broader LCT aspects with an LCT framework.