Being a Child in the Anthropocene World

In the Anthropocene, questions of sustainability and ecological responsibility challenge educators to consider how young children can participate in the world while recognizing that they are part of broader ecological systems. This article examines how an exploratory pedagogical approach can support such participation through a year-long tree project conducted in two Swedish preschool classes. The study follows educators’ teaching and six-year-old children’s meaning-making through an ethnographic design based on participant observations, focus-group conversations and stimulated recall. Drawing on the concept of the relational field of potentiality, the study maps pedagogical and learning processes that emerged during the project. The analysis is informed by Gert Biesta’s ideas of world-centred education and explores how teaching can invite children to engage with the world without positioning themselves at its centre. The findings show that educators’ deliberate didactic choices, including a clearly defined purpose, a listening stance, aesthetic forms of inquiry, and pedagogical strategies of guidance, delay and support, enabled children to move from an initial exploration of trees towards a broader understanding of ecological relationships. The study highlights how exploratory teaching can create opportunities for young children to develop knowledge, participation and responsibility in relation to the more-than-human world.