A two stage summative evaluation was conducted following the launch of the Mystic Seaport for Educators website, the final output resulting from the IMLS National Leadership grant entitled Mystic E-Port Digital Classroom project. The results of four focus groups, conducted in two phases, found consistent results suggesting that the project was successful at achieving all four goals as outlined in the original grant proposal. Appendix includes focus group protocol.
This study considers the analysis of the content of the conversations of primary school groups at the animated dinosaur models in The Natural History Museum, London. The results are compared with those of the conversations of similar school groups collected at the preserved animal specimens in the museum, and live animals at London Zoo. Particular issues, such as causality and the reality of the specimens, are examined in the context of the three types of exhibits.
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
This article describes a front-end evaluation conducted by researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Prospect Park Zoo in planning for the new "In Living Color" exhibit. The evaluation examined how the zoo's average young visitor--a 5.1 year old--thinks and feels about animal coloration.
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.
This paper discusses the development and visitor research of the George D. Widener Memorial Treehouse at the Philadelphia Zoo. The exhibit represents a non-traditional approach to education which involves the child as learner in the guise of an animal. This paper includes key findings from an evaluation study that aimed to achieve a systematic, working description of how visitors use "Treehouse"--what they are actually doing while they are there.
This paper discusses the methodology and findings of a study that tested the impact on visitors of using life-sized animal cutouts as a background for interpretive labels. The effectiveness of these labels were examined at the "African Plains Overlook" at the North Carolina Zoo
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stephen BitgoodArlene BenefieldDonald PattersonHoward Litwak
This paper explores the usefulness of children's drawings as tools for zoo exhibit evaluation. This paper presents preliminary analysis of children's drawings of completed exhibits at Woodland Park Zoological Gardens, which show they have promise as diagnostic tools, but require refinement and development by educational/behavioral experts.
This paper presents the methodology and findings of the formative and summative evaluation of the "Kongo Ranger Station" interactive interpretive displayed located in the new "Africa Rain Forest" exhibit at the Metro Washington Park Zoo. This display focuses on conservation, natural history and cultural issues in West and Central Africa.
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, 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