Young children's understanding of poverty within a framework of sustainability: Action research in a kindergarten

This study examined children's understandings of poverty in a Kindergarten classroom. Along with meaning-making around poverty, the study examined pedagogical conditions that support investigations of socio-political aspects of sustainability with young children. Data included observations of children's play, artefacts, conversation transcripts, and teacher reflective journal entries. Findings showed that the children's understandings of poverty shifted and reverted throughout the project and were influenced by broader social events. Further, that young children's engagement with socio-political aspects of sustainability can be supported via purposeful, play-based and arts-based pedagogies. This study addresses a gap in early childhood education for sustainability research by moving beyond a prevalent focus on environmental aspects of sustainability