Exploring sustainability practices with children in early childhood

Dr Lacey Peters is an assistant professor and graduate program co-coordinator for early childhood care and education. Lacey started her career in early childhood as a preschool teacher in Arizona. During her doctoral studies, she became engaged in children’s rights-based research, emphasizing the views and voices of younger people in her scholarship. Her dissertation research sought to gain in-depth understandings on children’s perspectives and experiences transitioning from preschool to kindergarten. She has published in the Journal of Early Childhood Research, Global Studies of Childhood, Early Years, the School Community Journal, and Teaching and Teacher Education. She was a co-editor of the Sage Handbook on Global Childhoods which was just recently published.

Dr Ingrid Anderson is an Associate Professor of Practice in the College of Education at Portland State University and the Coordinator of the Infant Toddler Mental Health Graduate Certificate. Her research and teaching focus on culturally sustaining and trauma-informed professional development, interdisciplinary approaches to infant and early childhood mental health, and supporting educator wellbeing through reflective and relational practices.

Dr Victoria (Tori) Damjanovic is an Associate Professor in early childhood education in the department of Teaching and Learning and core faculty in the Center for STEM Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University. She also serves as the Pedagogical Liaison for the NAU Early Learning Development Center. Her research explores in-service and pre-service teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge, STEAM in early childhood, inquiry-based teaching and learning, and the role of documentation in child and teacher learning in early childhood contexts through dimensions of equity.

Dr Janette Habashi is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Oklahoma, Department of Human Relations. Her research examines children’s sociopolitical interactions, the formation of children’s agency, patterns of socialization in conflict areas, and its impact on their individual development and community engagement. Since 2018, her research expanded to include sustainability applications in early childhood. Currently, Dr. Habashi is working with an international team of researchers on the civic potential of climate mobility HUMANE–CLIMATE which is funded by the Academy of Finland, Tampere University.