Educating Early Adolescents for a Sustainable Future With Digital Civic Learning: Moral Self-Concept as a Developmental Catalyst Linking Civic Competencies and Civic Purpose.

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is increasingly recognized as a developmental imperative in a world facing ecological, social, and political challenges. While many approaches to ESD emphasize knowledge and competencies, emerging research suggests that sustainable action in youth requires the integration of cognitive, emotional, and identity-based developmental processes. We propose that Digital Civic Learning (DCL) serves as a developmentally appropriate educational approach that can scaffold this process in early adolescence. Using a sample of 149 4th and 5th graders in Mid-Western United States, we examined how civic competencies, namely civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, relate to civic purpose and further investigated the mediating role of moral self-concept. Our findings underscore the importance of nurturing moral self-concept so that enhanced civic competencies translate into a form of civic purpose. SUMMARY: Conceptual innovation: It introduces Digital Civic Learning as a design-based, developmentally aligned model that integrates civic learning with sustainable development goals, aiming for transformative impact in education. Methodological advancement: It develops and applies a novel civic competencies coding scheme tailored for a nuanced analysis of students' civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Theoretical contribution: It positions moral self-concept as a developmental link connecting civic learning with a sustainability-oriented civic purpose in early adolescence, a critical period for identity formation. Empirical rigor: It employs performance-based assessments to evaluate students' civic competencies demonstrated in authentic digital classroom settings, emphasizing real-world application of civic reasoning within sustainability education.