This resource showcases a conference poster that the Wildlife Conservation Society presented at the 2014 Visitor Studies Association Conference and the 2014 Inclusive Museum Conference, outlining the work we undertook to explore the development of a proposed new family exhibit at the Bronx Zoo, "Safari Adventure," paired with selected results and takeaways. In 2011, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded WCS a grant to support our investigation and development. We asked ourselves the questions: How can zoo exhibits better connect people to nature? By what methods can we explore
This analysis of visitors’ experience of the "Congo Gorilla Forest" exhibition at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo was commissioned to investigate how this 15 year old exhibition is perceived by visitors, and if things have changed since an original summative evaluation in 1999-2000. Questions of particular interest were: 1. Have the characteristics of visitors seeing this exhibition changed? Has awareness or interest in environmental concepts changed? 2. Is the exhibition still appealing to visitors? 3. Are exhibit components such as the film and Conservation Choices Computers
The Bronx Zoo of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) engaged Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. to conduct formative evaluation and community focus groups related to a proposed exhibit, "Safari Adventure." The aim with this exhibit is to provide better connections to nature for families in our community and foster a life-long sense of environmental stewardship. The exhibit concept was born of the issue that, today, there exists a greater need to connect people to nature than ever before, a topic especially relevant for our community—part of the largest urban population in the United States
In 2011, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) a Museums for America – Engaging Communities grant to explore the development of a new family exhibit at the Bronx Zoo, "Safari Adventure." Our aim with this exhibit is to provide better connections to nature for families in our community and foster a life-long sense of environmental stewardship. The exhibit concept was born of the issue that, today, there exists a greater need to connect people to nature than ever before, a topic especially relevant for our community—part of the largest urban population in the United States. The IMLS grant allowed us to take a multi-faceted approach to inform our current thoughts about useful nature exhibit practices and what resonates with our audiences. Through evaluation, prototyping, visits to other institutions, workshops, and community focus groups, we explored themes of child nature play, intergenerational learning, community engagement, and barriers to access. We are disseminating the various reports and products from this process to publicize our findings to the larger professional community. The Wildlife Conservation Society, founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society, saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. We are the world’s most comprehensive conservation organization, currently managing about 500 conservation projects in more than 60 countries and educating millions of visitors each year at our five living institutions in New York City: the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo. Our conservation programs work directly with animals such as gorillas, elephants, condors, and penguins, and we manage more than 200 million acres of protected lands around the world.
This report presents and analyzes the findings from a front-end evaluation conducted by Randi Korn & Associates (RK&A) regarding the concept for "Safari Adventure," an exhibition being developed at the Bronx Zoo by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Bronx, NY. The aim of Safari Adventure will be to provide better connections to nature for families in our community and foster a life-long sense of environmental stewardship. The exhibit concept was born of the issue that, today, there exists a greater need to connect people to nature than ever before, a topic especially relevant for our
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It describes an exhibit developed for bus transit stations designed to reach underrepresented groups in Portland.
This preliminary report, prepared by New Knowledge Organization Ltd. in collaboration with Pennsylvania State University, summarizes evaluation results from the development of an online and in-person national training program to support the creation of a National Network for Ocean Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI). The project also explored whether and how training might prove to be an effective and efficient vector for increased public literacy about ocean climate science at a national level.
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New England Aquarium CorporationJohn Fraser
"From Earth to the Universe" (FETTU) is a collection of astronomical images that showcase some of the most popular, current views of our Universe. The images, representing the wide variety of astronomical objects known to exist, have so far been exhibited in about 500 locations throughout the world as part of the International Year of Astronomy. In the United States, over 40 FETTU exhibits have occurred in 25 states in such locations as libraries, airports, nature centers, parks and college campuses. Based on preliminary evaluations currently underway, this project – a large-scale, worldwide
Plants are essential to life on Earth and yet are often deemed invisible by the human populace. Botanic gardens are an under-researched educational context and, as such, have occupied a peripheral arena in biology education discussions. This article seeks to readdress this absence and present the case for a more sustained use of informal learning environments, such as botanic gardens and homes, to make public the private life of plants and their role in sustaining life on Earth. By drawing on empirical data from a doctoral thesis and reviewing relevant research literature, the author argues
Auditory forms of nonpersonal communication have rarely been evaluated in informal settings like parks and museums. This study evaluated the effect of an interpretive audio tour on visitor knowledge and social behavior at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. A cross-sectional pretest/posttest quasi-experimental design compared the responses of audio tour users (n = 123) and nonusers (n = 131) on several knowledge questions. Observations (n = 700) conducted at seven sites within the caverns documented sign reading, time spent listening to the audio, within group conversation, and other social
This study assessed visitor outcomes from attending presentations by members of the National Network for Ocean Climate Change Interpretation [NNOCCI] community of practice at four test aquariums and two control site aquariums where climate change interpretation is delivered by professional environmental educators who have not received NNOCCI training. Four unique self-complete surveys were developed, each collecting comparable demographic data and then each uniquely querying: obligations to act on climate change information for people, animals or the ocean; confidence that actions will result
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TEAM MEMBERS:
New England Aquarium CorporationJohn Fraser
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting held in Washington, DC. The goal of the project is to establish practices for combining public participation in scientific research (citizen science) with DNA-based species identification (DNA barcoding) to scale-up and improve the accuracy of research projects that monitor animal and plant species in the sea and on land as they respond to climate and environmental changes.
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Mount Desert Island Biological LaboratoryKaren James