Analysis of Knowledge Graph: Hotspots and Future Trends in Environmental Education Research

Currently, as human society develops, environmental issues have become one of the significant challenges faced by humanity. Consequently, environmental education has emerged in response to this need. Environmental education aims to cultivate citizens with knowledge about the environment, which is crucial in addressing global challenges, fostering human–nature sustainability knowledge, and cultivating resilient individuals and communities. A comprehensive analysis of the current state of environmental education and exploring how environmental education can enhance the sustainability of interactions between humans and nature is one of the focal points of contemporary research. This systematic review employs CiteSpace to visually analyze the advancements of environmental education research, aiming to uncover the current status, predominant themes, evolutionary trajectories, and emerging trends. The Web of Science core collection database was examined to retrieve environmental education research papers published from 2013 to 2022. A total of 1851 papers were included in the final analysis. CiteSpace was utilized for visualizing and analyzing environmental education researchers, keyword co-occurrences, and keyword clustering, and Timeview was employed to generate relevant maps. The analysis identified five major hotspots in environmental education research: environmental awareness and literacy, theories in environmental education, delivery modes and methods, developments and implementation of environmental education, and the intersection of climate change and environmental justice. Emerging research directions include environmental justice, climate change education, critical environmental education, and environmental citizenship education. The results show that environmental education is gradually transcending the natural realm currently and integrating into a holistic framework encompassing societal, economic, and political dimensions. Environmental citizenship education is increasingly attracting the attention of scholars. Solving environmental problems requires interdisciplinary dialogue.