“I can’t hear it” - exploring ways of meaningful and age-appropriate research with young children

There is a growing trend to advocate research with young children to ascertain their views on topics of global importance. This trend is evident in the rise in studies in the field of Education for Environmental Sustainability that has occurred during the last two decades (Borg and Sporre, DeZutter (ed), International perspectives on educating for democracy in early childhood, Routledge, 2023; Green, The Journal of Environmental Education 46:207–229, 2015). Nevertheless, while there is a growing movement that advocates listening to children, there is a lack of research using methods that see children as experts of their own lives while also actively engaging them in the research process (Somerville and Williams, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 16:102–117, 2015). Researchers increasingly choose child-led methods while the research itself remains adult-led (Boye Koch, Early Years 41:381–395, 2021; Larsson et al., Early Child Development and Care 191:511–519, 2021). This chapter explores ways of undertaking meaningful and age-appropriate research with young children and ways of listening to what they think, using the example of how they experience and learn to care for nature.