Over the past three decades, our understanding of science learning in early childhood has improved exponentially and today we have a strong empirically based understanding of science experiences for children aged three to six years. However, our understanding of science learning as it occurs for children from birth to three years, is limited. We do not know enough about how scientific thinking develops across the first years of life. Identifying what we do know about science experiences for our youngest learners within the birth to three period specifically, is critical. This paper reviews the literature, and for the first time includes children in the birth to three period. The results are contextualised through a broader review of early childhood science education for children aged from birth to six years. Findings illustrated that the empirical research on science concept formation in the early years, has focused primarily, on children aged three to six years. The tendency of research to examine the process of concept formation in the birth to three period is also highlighted. A lack of empirical understanding of science concept formation in children from birth to three is evident. The eminent need for research in science in infancy–toddlerhood is highlighted.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led us to an unanticipated and challenging world. In educational settings, one of the ways to respond to this crisis has been the online delivery of content. One of the valid critiques of these online delivery models is the passive role of the participants. The challenge is we still know very little about how technology could support children's active participation in their learning. This challenge exacerbates with children in early years and in their home setting, which is the focus of our research at Monash University's Conceptual PlayLab. This paper reports on solving the theoretical problem of digital design that can create a relational space for children's STEM concept formation. The paper argues that engagement with digital tools demands clear design principles that could support both robust concept formation and also development of learning motives in children. Drawing on Wartofsky's work on artefacts and tool-use and (Fleer 2017a, 2019), conceptualisation of "digital coadjuvant", we make a case that technology offers a transformative potential for children to imagine and explore together with their caregivers in the Conceptual PlayWorld. We have showed through a practice example on how person and digital technologies become mutually constituted in a pop-up Conceptual PlayWorld. The design principle highlighted in the paper argues for transcending the binary of digital and non-digital. The paper concludes that Conceptual PlayWorld offers a design model that uses digital tools to sustain and amplify children's exploration in their imaginary play situation.

Land resources are finite, comprised with biophysical complexities (biodiversity, soil, and water resources), vital in sustenance of life. However, multiple anthropogenic disturbances transmogrified the global landscapes with spread of invasive alien plants (IAPs), and perturbed the land-biophysical components, thereby triggering the ecosystem degradation. Nevertheless, the interrelationship of IAPs with land degradation and sustainable restoration is not well established. Furthermore, the restoration challenges of IAPs driven land degradation is also exacerbated under the event of climate change. In this review, the adverse impacts of IAPs on biophysical components of land resources are discussed to explicitly assess the drivers of ecosystem degradation. Restoration efforts of degraded lands should be therefore targeted to revitalize the associated biophysical complexities. Further, the explicit study on the effects of IAPs on plant-soil and plant-soil microbe interactions need to be at the heart of sustainable land or ecosystem restoration strategies. Several studies refused the blanket condemnation of IAPs in ecosystem restoration, ascribed to co-benefits (bioenergy, phytoremediation, biopolymers, and ethnomedicines), inextricably linked with the coverage of financial incentives. Nevertheless, the use of IAPs in ecological restoration needs pragmatic evaluation in terms of long-term ecosystem effects. To this end, the incorporation of ‘hybrid technology’, integrating scientific information with traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), can be the founding principle of sustainable ecosystem restoration and rural livelihood. Importantly, holistic approach in restoration of degraded lands in concert with ‘circular economy’ can remarkably influence in achieving the target of UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) and UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN-DER) (2021-30).

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