Kimberley Beasley

This research explores the development of botanical literacies of two early childhood teachers (ECT) and the children in their classes over 1 year. The teachers and children regularly visited bush spaces within their school grounds and invited external experts, including a local Indigenous Elder, to provide local plant knowledge. Using a Mosaic approach and inquiry-based learning with the classes, this research documented changes over time in each class regarding their botanical literacies and interactions with native plants in the bush spaces.

A multi-site case study approach was used, and data were collected through interviews, conversations, observations and children’s drawings, photographs and maps. The findings focus specifically on three main areas: (1) the botanical literacies of young children; (2) the botanical literacies of ECTs; and (3) the impact of including Indigenous knowledge on the botanical literacies of young children and their teachers in an early childhood setting.

This study adds to the limited body of international research on botanical literacies and is the first study of botanical literacies among young children and ECTs in Australia. It provides a framework for teaching botanical literacies in early childhood education that could be adapted for use in other early childhood settings. This research could also be used as a prompt for ECTs to take their children into local native bush environments to improve their own and their class’s botanical literacies. The positive impact of the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in this research encourages teachers and early childhood communities to engage with local Indigenous Elders for a specific understanding of their local native plants and environments.

This study contributes to the research in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) by exploring a case study of two Western Australian early childhood education classes who welcomed an Indigenous Elder to share their expertise about the native plants in the schools’ bush space. The findings from this study demonstrate the impact Indigenous perspectives had on teacher’s and children’s relationship with the bush and the development of their botanical literacies. Indigenous peoples in Australia, and across the world have botanical practices that have existed for tens of thousands of years. This study acknowledges botany as a settler colonial practice and contemplates changes to botanical practices and pedagogies that include Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing.

Environmental education across the early years has become increasingly important in Australia since the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework and the Australian Curriculum. These documents promote a connection to nature for young children as well as environmental responsibility. In Western Australia, large areas of natural environments are bush spaces, accessible by young children, families and schools. There is no existing research investigating early childhood teacher’s knowledge of plants in these bush spaces and the utilisation of these spaces in teaching botany as part of their teaching practice. The discussion in this article examines part of a larger year-long multi-site case study of the changes in the botanical understanding of two early childhood teachers of children aged 5–8 years, in Western Australian schools both before and after the Mosaic Approach, botanical practices and Indigenous knowledges were incorporated into their teaching practice. This article focuses on the changes of botanical literacies of the early childhood teachers specifically. The findings suggest that using inquiry-based and place-based methods and including First Nations Peoples’ perspectives about plants whilst teaching in the bush can significantly increase the plant knowledge and understanding of teachers, as well their own scientific and botanical literacies.

This presentation shares a PhD research project on botanical literacies in Early Childhood Education (ECE). Although young children in ECE in Australia are often involved in learning in outdoor natural environments, research on their knowledge and attitudes towards plants is limited. Botanical literacies in young children involves developing knowledge and curiosity about plants, formulating questions about plants, and critically and ethically thinking about plants and their environments. The study explored young children’s knowledge and attitudes of the flora in the native bushlands on their school grounds. A total of 41 children, aged five to eight from two schools in Western Australia were involved in the research over one school year. Fortnightly visits to the school bushlands with the lead researcher involved bush walks, informal and formal conversations about plants, children creating drawings, maps and taking photos, as well as visits from local Indigenous people to share Indigenous knowledge of the plants. The data was analysed using content analysis and a revised version of Uno’s (2009) levels of botanical literacies. The results of this research led to the development of a framework for developing botanical literacies in ECE.

Although young children in Early childhood education (ECE) in Australia are often involved in learning in outdoor natural environments, research on their knowledge and attitudes towards plants is limited. Botanical literacies in young children involve developing knowledge and curiosity about plants, formulating questions about plants, and critically and ethically thinking about plants and their environments. This study explored young children’s knowledge and attitudes of the flora in the native bushlands on their school grounds. A total of 41 children, aged five to eight from two schools in Western Australia were involved in the research over one school year. Fortnightly visits to the school bushlands with the lead researcher involved bush walks, informal and formal conversations about plants, children creating drawings, maps and taking photographs, as well as visits from local Indigenous people to share Indigenous knowledge of the plants. The data were analysed using content analysis and a revised version of (Uno, American Journal of Botany 96:1753–1759, 2009) levels of botanical literacies. The results of this research led to the development of a framework for developing botanical literacies in ECE.

In many cultures and in past generations, it has been expected that knowledge about plants and flowers would be passed down to children from parents and grandparents. This has generally not been a role included in school education, but botanical literacies are now on the decline as this knowledge is not as often being passed down through families due societal changes in work and lifestyle. This session will discuss what botanical literacies look like and the levels of botanical understandings for children as well as why it is important that children understand the names, behaviours and uses of local plants. I will discuss my research journey towards a model for integrating botanical literacies in the early childhood curriculum.