Trees, forests, and recycled paper: art–science approaches to ecological understanding in Northern Finland

The escalating environmental concerns highlight the need for educational approaches that engage children with ecological relations in everyday environments. The integration of art and science can connect learners with natural processes through experiential and multimodal practices. This study examines how children articulated ecological understanding through embodied, material, and imaginative engagement in art–science integrated activities during a ‘Nature and Science’ summer camp in Northern Finland. The camp was situated in a forest-rich region where forests are integral to everyday life and debates on sustainability and resource use. The study draws on art-based action research, in which artistic activity functions as both pedagogy and research data. The analysis approaches learning situations as embodied, material, and collaborative processes in which artworks and interpretations developed through activity. The camp included recycled papermaking, sensory forest activities, and exploration at a science center. Data included observations, children’s artworks, field notes, photographs, and teacher interviews. The analysis identified three recurring forms of articulation: (1) sensory encounters with forest environments, (2) the transformation of recycled paper through collaborative making, (3) connections described across activities during interdisciplinary exploration. Ecological understanding developed through engagement with materials, places, and activities, as pupils connected experiences across forest exploration, recycled papermaking, artistic creation, and science-center investigations. The children’s artworks and reflections referred to continuity, renewal, vulnerability, and care, while positioning themselves as participants, protectors, and co-inhabitants in relation to forest environments. The findings show how art–science activities can support children’s ecological meaning-making through material engagement, imagination, and interdisciplinary exploration.