“It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water

Broad and complex ideas about sustainability can be communicated through the Arts. Australian curriculum documents support the integration of Arts education with education for sustainability. Responding to artworks as a viewer is a key aspect of Arts education in Australian schools. Chris Jordan is...

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Main Author: Lyndal O’Gorman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2024-08-01
Series:Australian Journal of Environmental Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0814062624000272/type/journal_article
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author Lyndal O’Gorman
author_facet Lyndal O’Gorman
author_sort Lyndal O’Gorman
collection DOAJ
description Broad and complex ideas about sustainability can be communicated through the Arts. Australian curriculum documents support the integration of Arts education with education for sustainability. Responding to artworks as a viewer is a key aspect of Arts education in Australian schools. Chris Jordan is a US artist whose online media galleries communicate ideas about environmental and social justice themes. This paper reports interview data from a larger project exploring children’s responses to Chris Jordan’s artworks. Conversations were held with 28 children aged between 4 and 12 as they navigated Jordan’s website to explore the images they encountered. Data relating to SDG14: Life below water were selected for the specific focus of this paper. Thematic analysis of the data revealed five themes: connections to prior experience and knowledge, links with local contexts and places, emotional engagement with the images, solutions and action-taking and ideas related to post-humanism and the human-nature binary. These findings endorse the power of Arts-based experiences for enhancing education for sustainability in primary schools and early childhood contexts.
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series Australian Journal of Environmental Education
spelling doaj-art-25561f3d821141bc8e072cd35185d73e2025-08-20T03:40:44ZengCambridge University PressAustralian Journal of Environmental Education0814-06262049-775X2024-08-014069370510.1017/aee.2024.27“It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below WaterLyndal O’Gorman0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6860-6784School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, AustraliaBroad and complex ideas about sustainability can be communicated through the Arts. Australian curriculum documents support the integration of Arts education with education for sustainability. Responding to artworks as a viewer is a key aspect of Arts education in Australian schools. Chris Jordan is a US artist whose online media galleries communicate ideas about environmental and social justice themes. This paper reports interview data from a larger project exploring children’s responses to Chris Jordan’s artworks. Conversations were held with 28 children aged between 4 and 12 as they navigated Jordan’s website to explore the images they encountered. Data relating to SDG14: Life below water were selected for the specific focus of this paper. Thematic analysis of the data revealed five themes: connections to prior experience and knowledge, links with local contexts and places, emotional engagement with the images, solutions and action-taking and ideas related to post-humanism and the human-nature binary. These findings endorse the power of Arts-based experiences for enhancing education for sustainability in primary schools and early childhood contexts.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0814062624000272/type/journal_articleArts-basedchildrenenvironmental educationenvironmental sustainability
spellingShingle Lyndal O’Gorman
“It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water
Australian Journal of Environmental Education
Arts-based
children
environmental education
environmental sustainability
title “It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water
title_full “It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water
title_fullStr “It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water
title_full_unstemmed “It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water
title_short “It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water
title_sort it s the only world we ve got children s responses to chris jordan s images about sdg 14 life below water
topic Arts-based
children
environmental education
environmental sustainability
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0814062624000272/type/journal_article
work_keys_str_mv AT lyndalogorman itstheonlyworldwevegotchildrensresponsestochrisjordansimagesaboutsdg14lifebelowwater