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Environmental conceptions justify the way we understand the 'environment', as well as the way we connect with it. Therefore, it is important to study the way environmental conceptions are shaped, especially during the various experiences of childhood, which is the time that a person's identity is shaped. In the present study we focus on 8-9 years old children environmental conceptions and how they were affected by their participation in a school kitchen-garden project. Following a socio-constructivist approach, we asked from 24 children to construct three-dimensional (3 D) representations of the 'environment', using miniatures of biotic and abiotic elements (e.g. plants, animals, rocks), humans and human constructions and equipment (e.g. buildings, roads, bins). The analysis showed that aesthetic and "light" utilitarian perspectives were dominant in participants' conceptualizations, as well as a stewardship connection with nature. It also turned out to be that, for most of the participants, the participation in a school kitchen-garden project enhanced a more realistic and at the same time, more relational representation of the 'environment'.

There is a strong belief among environmental and sustainability educators and researchers that meaningful education can benefit from participatory approaches. Participation in decision-making, community cooperation, and interaction, development of team communication, solidarity and real action resulting in real outcomes, are the qualities that should characterize the participation children experience from a project. However, there is a strong criticism that many projects are characterized by a kind of 'pseudo-participation' that limits children's opportunities for personal growth and learning. In this paper we explore how participation is constituted from the perspective of children, as well as if children's participation creates opportunities for the expression of ownership, locus of control ans self-efficacy, motivation for action and collective efficacy. Ninety-five, nine to eleven-year-old students from six elementary schools that were involved in schools' kitchen garden projects were interviewed for the purpose of this study. We concluded that successful projects are characterized by a structured design that forecasts and arranges how children participate in the decision-making process, how they participate in all the necessary tasks required for cultivating a garden, and how the teachers facilitate the process.

This paper is motivated by the idea that the study of the interplay of research and policy related to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in specific national contexts can contribute to global conversations about the relationships between education research and policy-making. It is written by two individuals who have been involved in various roles within the development of ESD research and policy in Cyprus. The study involved thematic analysis of all ESD policy and research documents in Cyprus from 1998 and 2017, in order to examine interactions between research and policy. Findings suggest that ESD research and policy in Cyprus empower each other, with researchers participating to on-going policy development and policy processes highlighting new directions for research. Based on these findings, we discuss the effectiveness of a participatory model for ESD research and policy processes, and the importance of situations where education policy interrupts established research traditions. Further, we highlight the danger of research being suppressed under the power of politics. We conclude that the study of the development of ESD research and policy in specific national contexts, especially beyond Western Europe and North America, can reveal the varied possibilities in the interplay of policy and research, and therefore can inform understandings of the relationships between them.

This article focuses on the development of decision-making skills and environmental concern by 11- and 12-year-old students through computer-based, scaffolded learning activities. The enacted activities provided necessary scientific information and allowed for the consideration of multiple aspects of the problem, the study of the effects of every possible solution and the formulation and balancing of criteria. The optimization strategy for decision making was adopted, because it allows for the development of compensatory thinking which is more relevant to actual situations of decision making. Twelve students participated in the pilot enactment of the proposed activities. Data collection relied on students' reports and pre- and post- tests as well as a closed questionnaire designed to measure students' environmental concern. The teaching intervention proved quite successful in enhancing the decision-making skills of the participating children. Moreover, students' performance on the environmental concern questionnaire correlated in interesting ways with the improvement of decision-making skills. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables and 2 notes.)

While modern science is receiving harsh criticism within the framework of environmental education, at the same time ecology is presented as an alternative science, characterized as 'holistic' and 'non-exploitative'. However, many of the characteristics of the science of ecology do not comply with its characterization as alternative science. Furthermore, ecology is a science with competing paradigms, provisional theories, incommensurable worldviews, and extensive theoretical and methodological debates. The treatment of the science of ecology in environmental education is not taking into account the relevant evidence, resulting in a quite strong positivistic and dogmatic educational approach. The importance of approaches that comply more with a post-positivistic account of education are discussed in the light of the possible contribution of environmental education to science education discourse.