Emergent Ocean Literacies: Sustainability Education for the Early Years

Welcome to Research Breakfast

We invite you to the launch of our special issue, “Emergent Ocean Literacies: Sustainability Education for the Early Years,” published in the ECNU Review of Education, Spring 2026. This event, held in conjunction with One Ocean Week, aims to explore the vital role early education plays in fostering ocean literacy and sustainability.

Join us as we delve into the sensory and imaginative experiences that shape young children’s understanding of our oceans and coastal ecosystems. This special issue addresses the pressing need to enhance public ocean literacy and nurture future “blue leaders” who respect and protect our marine environments. Researchers from Norway, Italy, Chile, and China have been involved and will present their research.

Through engaging presentations of our research and an invitation to join the discussion, we aim to highlight how early childhood education can transform the way children connect with their local landscapes and develop an emerging understanding of the diverse ecosystems where land and sea meet, as well as their imagination and knowledge of the ocean. For more information, please visit our journal page and join this vital conversation on safeguarding our oceans for future generations.

Guest Editors are Aihua Hu & Elin Eriksen Ødegaard, KINDknow Research Center, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

The international guest invited is Dr. Michela Schenetti, University of Bologna.

She is an educational researcher and lecturer at the University of Bologna. Her research focuses on Education for Sustainability, outdoor education, and learning processes in early childhood settings and schools. She serves as the scientific coordinator of the Italian Network of Public Outdoor Schools. Her recent interests include the emerging field of Ocean Literacy, and she collaborates as a consultant with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). In her work, she actively supports and facilitates place-based transformative processes within educational communities. She is also involved in numerous professional development initiatives and has authored several scientific publications on these topics.

Schenetti will present: The Lagoon in Venice, as a Space for Thought: Transformative Narratives of Teachers

The special issue is edited by Dr. Aihua Hu and Professor Elin Eriksen Ødegaard.

Dr. Aihua Hu is Associate Professor, researcher at KINDknow research center, and educator at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. Her research focuses on Education for Sustainability in the early years, STEAM curriculum, and comparative education. She is Deputy of the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education- Norway and teaches in teacher education.

Professor Elin Eriksen Ødegaard is Director at the KINDknow Research Center at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. Her research focus is on children’s play and exploration. She theorizes the concept of collaborative exploration and outlines the concept of Emergent Ocean literacy. She is the co-producer of the award-winning documentary: One Portrait Children by the North Sea.

ECNU – Review of Education, 2026: Overview of researchers involved in the Special Issue

Ødegaard, Elin Eriksen & Birkeland, Åsta: Conceptualizing Emergent Ocean Literacy – exploring sensuous and spatial early childhood education and ecological care practices in coastal landscapes

Chao Sun et al.: Visual Design in Ocean-Themed Children’s Books: A Content Analysis Based on Ocean Literacy Principles

Torsvik, Janne, Lynngard, Anne Myklebust, & Grindheim, Liv Torunn: Emphasizing Loopholes to Facilitate Early Childhood Education for Sustainability

Schenetti, Michela, Tombolini et al.: The Lagoon as a Space for Thought: Transformative Narratives of Teachers

Czarecah Tuppil, Oropilla & Fagerbakke, Inga Margrethe: From Research to Play: Developing Didactic Games as Tools for Emergent Ocean Literacy and Sensory Intergenerational Dialogues

Riquelme Arredondo, Angélica: Ocean literacy: Voices of the sea in early childhood and their emergent representations

Xu, Fuxiao, Hu, Aihua, & Ødegaard, Elin Eriksen: Fostering emergent ocean literacy: From emotional engagement to action

We look forward to seeing you there!