Children’s agency in climate education: Neuroeducation-informed design principles for southeast Asia

Abstract

Climate change is reshaping children’s everyday environments in Southeast Asia by increasing exposure to floods, heat, and environmental degradation, while undermining their well-being and perceived control. The objective of this conceptual article is to develop neuroeducation-informed design principles for climate education to strengthen children’s agency and autonomous adaptation in Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Viet Nam. Using a narrative, theory-building approach, the methodology involves synthesizing interdisciplinary literature across educational neuroscience, environmental psychology, and child-centered adaptation. The main results present a novel framework that maps emotional regulation, cognitive load management, motivation, and social learning onto the educational purposes of informing, understanding, skill-building, and action. Based on this framework, five design principles are proposed: emotional safety, local and embodied learning, scaffolded action, collaborative and intergenerational learning, and sustained teacher support. The implications of this study suggest that implementing these principles in low-resource, high-risk educational contexts can effectively transition climate education from merely imparting knowledge to fostering psychological resilience and actionable climate agency among vulnerable youth.