Rethinking Environmental Education Based on Psychological Determinants of Lifelong Nature Connectedness and Environmental Commitment

Environmental education emerged in the 1970s to address the burgeoning socio-environmental problems that ultimately led to the current global crisis. Historically, the field relied on linear, information-driven models, assuming that transferring conceptual knowledge to learners would systematically foster ecological citizenship. However, environmental psychology research points to a persistent "knowledge-action gap", demonstrating that awareness and knowledge alone fail to translate into significant or persistent behavioral change. While educational paradigms have shifted toward action-oriented and competency-based frameworks, current empirical evidence highlights that affective factors play a primary role in fostering environmental commitment. In climate action, for instance, emotions such as worry and hope act as critical drivers. Concurrently, environmental psychology has established that a psychological connection to nature - measured through various constructs, ranging from the unidimensional affective bond of nature connectedness to the multidimensional nature relatedness - serves as a robust predictor of pro-environmental behaviors. This reveals a critical convergence of maximum interest for contemporary educational psychology: how to operationalize an education that deeply connects people with the natural world. Activating core biophilic pathways within certain learning environments may offer a solution to bridge this gap and promote sustained environmental defense.The core objective of this Research Topic is to explore how the psychological determinants of connection with nature can be effectively operationalized within certain educational environments to educate generations of environmentally committed citizens. While traditional instruction prioritizes scientific literacy, this collection investigates how experiential, emotional, and non-cognitive pathways (such as sensory contact, beauty, and compassion) can be utilized to genuinely connect students with the natural world. Furthermore, we seek to investigate how this connection manifests across educational settings - whether through explicit cognitive utterances, embodied expressions, or observable behaviors - and to clarify the potentially reciprocal causal directions between ecological wonder and protective action.This Research Topic welcomes original empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods), systematic reviews, and conceptual or methodological frameworks bridging environmental psychology and educational practice. We invite manuscripts exploring:● Innovative pedagogical interventions designed around emotional, experiential, cognitive and non-cognitive pathways to nature connectedness.● The role of aesthetic appreciation, compassion, and meaning-making as educational alternatives to purely utilitarian or scientific instruction.● The psychological boundaries and synergies between nature connectedness, environmental identity, and the development of environmental morality.● Methodological advances in observing, measuring, and tracking cognitive, embodied, and behavioral indicators of nature connection in learning environments.Contributions must firmly integrate psychological theory with educational outcomes, providing evidence-based strategies to cultivate active, nature-connected citizens. Topic editors: Marcia Eugenio-Gozalbo, Irma Brkovic, Dawn Sanders, Enzo Ferrari, Nick C Nash Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82197/rethinking-environmental-education-based-on-psychological-determinants-of-lifelong-nature-connectedness-and-environmental-commitment