The World in Children’s Minds – or Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education as Empowerment to Shape a Desirable Future

Abstract

Abstract How can we succeed in meeting the challenges of the future world in the best possible way? In order to support children in their development into optimistic, self-effective adults, it is necessary to find out how children perceive their world and how they combine these perceptions with their cognitive knowledge. This article examines the question of what children’s ideas about the world look like in children at the end of primary school, or what information is included in them. In a pilot study, mental maps were used to visualize the child’s world view. Accompanying questions were used to ascertain the children’s knowledge of current global problems. The focus was on the students’ thematic interests, which accompanied the discussions with the pupils. Already the first evaluations of the Mental Maps, which were made by the students, allow conclusions to be drawn. There is no uniform level in the children’s cognitive maps with regards to the concrete positional relationship of spatial units, e.g. continents and oceans. The statements about the content details of these maps are shaped by the children’s perception. The Mental Maps show a combination of indirect, direct and emotional spatial perception. The awareness of the pupils regarding global challenges, oriented towards the Sustainable Development Goals, proves to be clearly pronounced in the impulse-based interviews in the 4th grade. Thus, the pilot study allows the conclusion that already at the end of primary school pupils develop an awareness of global challenges and the ability to act. The SDGs of the UN Agenda 2030 offer a suitable basis for this. In addition to the development of a worldwide rough topographical orientation grid, the aim is to give children an understanding of global connections and to educate them to become global citizens of the future world.