Free-choice learning and, derivatively, free-choice environmental learning emerges as a powerful vehicle for supporting diversity in learning styles (Falk & Dierking, 2002). In this article, I argue that free-choice environmental learning holds great potential for enabling us to understand what is at stake in environmental learning and thus help us build a sustainable future. I examine the different informal learning contexts for children, home (family and play), museums, zoos, nature parks and wilderness, among many others, and offer an explanation for how learning occurs in these settings
The purpose of this study was to investigate how situational interest of high school students was triggered during a field trip to an aquarium. Although the role of museums in stimulating interest among students has been acknowledged for some time, empirical evidence about how the specific variable of a museum setting might trigger situational interest is almost nonexistent. The present study was conducted as a case study to provide an inductive, explorative investigation of how situational interest emerged during the field trip. A situative approach to the study of interest was applied in the
This paper discusses a study that tracked the behavior of 350 visitors to the Lester E. Fisher Great Ape House at Lincoln Park Zoo over a 12-month period. Findings relate to visit durations, including children vs. adults as well as visitors' responses to interpretive graphics. This data adds to the growing literature on visitor behavior in zoological parks and have helped to guide several aspects of exhibit design for Lincoln Park Zoo's new ape facility.
The focus of this summative evaluation report is the Shark Encounter exhibit at Sea World of California, which opened in June 1992. The design concept was to display the largest collection of sharks in the world. Visitors are transported to the "tropics" to view sharks from above, and then venture into the sharks' environment as they travel through an acrylic tube placed on the bottom of the habitat. The goal of the evaluation was to determine the overall effectiveness, or success, of the exhibit
This is a brief summary of Barbara Birney's 1988 article featured in "Environment and Behavior," which discussed key findings from the formative evaluation of Brookfield Zoo's "Flying Walk" exhibit. The exhibit was designed to teach visitors the proper wing movement of birds.
In this article, Albert Ndayitwayeko, AFGRAD Fellow at the University of Florida, and John J. Koran, Jr., Professor and Curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History, analyze the informal education field in the Republic of Burundi, a small country located in Central Africa. This discussion focuses on natural history museums and zoos, their exhibits and visitor behavior, which may serve as a valuable and less expensive adjunct to formal learning.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Albert NdayitwayekoJohn J. Koran, Jr.
In this article, researchers at University of Florida present a report of a preliminary study that examined the effects of multispecies exhibits in zoological parks on visitor attention and possible interactions between factors identified as affecting visitor behavior. The study was carried out at the Jacksonville Zoo.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
John Scott FosterJohn J. Koran, Jr.Mary Lou KoranSteven StarkAnn BlackwoodHarriet Landers
In this article, Donald Thompson and Stephen Bitgood of Jacksonville State University discuss a study that examined three variables that influence the readability of exhibit signs and labels: label length, type size, and position (or proximity) of the label. Researchers studied subjects from 5,822 visitor groups in "The Predators" building at the Birmingham Zoo between August and December of 1987.
The overarching purpose of the Climate Literacy Zoo Education Network is to develop and evaluate a new approach to climate change education that connects zoo visitors to polar animals currently endangered by climate change, leveraging the associative and affective pathways known to dominate decision-making. Utilizing a polar theme, the partnership brings together a strong multidisciplinary team that includes the Chicago Zoological Society of Brookfield, IL, leading a geographically distributed consortium of nine partners: Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, OH; Como Zoo & Conservatory, St. Paul, MN; Indianapolis Zoo, IN; Louisville Zoological Garden, KY; Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR; Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, PA; Roger Williams Park Zoo, Providence, RI; Toledo Zoological Gardens, OH, and the organization Polar Bears International. The partnership leadership includes the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. The partnership is joined by experts in conservation psychology and an external advisory board. The primary stakeholders are the diverse 13 million annual visitors to the nine partner zoos. Additional stakeholders include zoo docents, interpreters and educators, as well as the partnership technical team in the fields of learning innovations, technological tools, research review and education practice. The core goals of the planning phase are to a) develop and extend the strong multidisciplinary partnership, b) conduct research needed to understand the preconceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and learning modes of zoo visitors regarding climate change; and c) identify and prototype innovative learning environments and tools. Internal and external evaluations will be conducted by Facet Innovations of Seattle, WA. Activities to achieve these goals include assessments and stakeholder workshops to inventory potential resources at zoos; surveys of zoo visitors to examine demographic, socioeconomic, and technology access parameters of zoo visitors and their existing opinions; and initial development and testing of participatory, experiential activities and technological tools to facilitate learning about the complex system principles underlying the climate system. The long-term vision centers on the development of a network of U.S. zoos, in partnership with climate change domain scientists, learning scientists, conservation psychologists, and other stakeholders, serving as a sustainable infrastructure to investigate strategies designed to foster changes in public attitudes, understandings, and behavior surrounding climate change.
The purpose of the study was to investigate how situational interest was triggered for high-school students on an aquarium field trip. Although actual learning was not itself measured in this study, the author investigates how the museum setting triggers interest, which in turn influences learning and is therefore important to cultivate. As the author admits, some of the findings are intuitive but the study empirically confirms some approaches, which can spark situational interest. Five areas that triggered situational interest were identified through student interviews: social involvement
Professionals from the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), New Knowledge Organization, and faculty from Hunter College developed Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think (WM) as a traveling exhibition with ancillary programs about animal cognition to be presented in both science centers and zoos. The project primary goal is to develop public understanding of the complex concept of animal cognition. Its secondary objective is to encourage sustainable science center-zoo partnership in the communities that host Wild Minds. The Wild Minds science center exhibition consists of discreet stand-alone
This exhibition was created to attract and appeal to families with children based on a major strategic planning effort targeting a specific audience. Summative evaluation was commissioned to reflect on the original goals for the exhibition as well as to inform future decisions regarding institutional and exhibition planning for family audiences. Several complementary research methods were used to address a variety of questions about family experiences in Splash Zone: two methods of exit interviews (281 family interviews where parents were asked most of the questions, and 55 interviews with
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jeff HaywardMonterey Bay AquariumJolene Hart