ReviewEducational research review2020
Early childhood environmental education: A systematic review of the research literature.
Review in Educational research review, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevention of internalizing disorders in early childhood.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Video-Feedback Interventions Focusing on the Mother-Child Relationship: A Systematic Review of Program Characteristics, Evidence, and Outcomes in Early Childhood.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Review
- Outcomes associated with participation in a sustainability environmental education program: preschool children's life skills and computational thinking.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Enhancing children's environmental cognition, affect, and behavior through project-based STEM learning toward the SDGs.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Direct observation systems for child behavior assessment in early childhood education: a systematic literature review.Discover mental health · 2025Review
- Child-to-Parent Violence Among Adolescents: A Preliminary Analysis of Its Association with Sociodemographic Variables, Dating Violence, and Antisocial Traits.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The impact of AI-based painting technology on children's creative thinking.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
- Driven by feelings or stimulated by context: how childhood nature experience shaped adulthood pro-environmental behavior?Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
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- Article
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- Advancing assessment of responsive feeding environments and practices in child care.Journal of nutritional science · 2024Article
- How Green Space Justice in urban built-up areas affects public mental health: a moderated chain mediation model.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- The environment and children's health.Child health nursing research · 2023Article
- Non-depleting energy in the museum.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Young children contribute to nature stewardship.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Environmental education focused on the early-childhood years is experiencing dynamic growth in research and practice due to persistent environmental challenges coupled with burgeoning interest in the documented benefits of nature-rich experiences for infants and children. To better understand the landscape of early childhood environmental education (ECEE) pedagogical practices and expected outcomes, we undertook a systematic review of empirical studies of ECEE programs. Focusing on a 25-year span, we surfaced 66 studies that met our inclusion criteria. We found that participants in such programs spanned the early-childhood age range (birth through age eight) with the majority involving three- to six-year-olds in teacher-led, formal (school-like) programs. The primary outcomes documented in our sample studies included environmental literacy development, cognitive development, and social and emotional development. To a lesser extent, the studies addressed physical development and language and literacy development. On balance, our sample of ECEE studies reported strongly positive findings associated with the aforementioned outcomes. The majority emphasized the effectiveness of play-based, nature-rich pedagogical approaches that incorporated movement and social interaction. We include a visualization that synthesizes cross-sample findings with the intention of assisting ECEE practitioners in developing, implementing, and evaluating programs as well as encouraging researchers to further study elements, processes, and theoretical assumptions inherent in them.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.