My visit to the Louisville Zoo was a bittersweet one - I was so excited to see this zoo, but knew it would be my final one on the road trip. The journey had been long, but completely worth it all the same.
The Louisville Zoo opened in the 1960s and its education programming began around 1975. This was when a few dedicated zoo volunteers began to do education programs such as outreach. Since then the department has grown and expanded, now with around 23 employees in the summer, 10 in winter, and still a devoted base of docents. Even with their multiple areas devoted to education, including a large central education building, the education department viewed the zoo as their true classroom. The Louisville Zoo was very expansive, even sporting a tram that would transport patrons around the park, and I could see exactly how it functioned as a living educational experience.
The education department offered many different programs for children, families, and adults, including early childhood programming and adult lecture series. However, its work with schools seemed to be especially strong. The zoo worked directly with the state department of education in order to understand the big picture in what children were learning and what was needed in teacher training. They also worked directly with religious schools in the area. Their School at the Zoo program, aimed at seventh grade students, ran five days a week and aligned with core components of state education. Overall they worked to serve over 100,000 students in Louisville school systems.
They also worked hard to serve their overall surrounding community. Louisville Zoo is the only zoo in the entire state of Kentucky and is a resource for a very large area. The zoo was excited to offer a safe and secure environment for families, especially during events such as their Halloween celebration.
The Louisville Zoo's education department also used a very analytical approach towards their programming. Programming incorporated evaluation forms which participants would fill out, and these were used in analysis of existing programs. Evaluation forms and audience analysis were also used when developing new programs. Any new programming went through many rigorous steps in order to be implemented, such as technical logistics, audience overview, and budgeting. Their budgeting was strict and well-thought out, and was incorporated into all analysis and program overviews. While having big ideas regarding zoo education was important, it was interesting to see this flip side and how zoos could handle educating while still adhering to strict guidelines and 'left brain' analytics.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Columbus Zoo
The Columbus Zoo was regarded as a kind of rock-star zoo among my peers when I discussed where I was going this summer - it was famous, after all, and was home to the legendary Jack Hanna. The zoo had a rock-star presence as well, and by that I mean it was larger than life. I'm almost certain it was the largest zoo I visited and I just couldn't manage to walk through the entire thing even though I wanted to see every part.
Thankfully the education building was close to the entrance and I went there first. The education department at the Columbus Zoo started in the early 80's with Jack Hanna and a few other educators. Then only three years ago, it became split between Promotions, which handles Jack Hanna's programs such as the animal encounters village, and Education, which handles many 'education proper' programs such as summer camps and an early childhood program called Zoo Tots.
The programs the education department offered tried to cater very close to what audiences wanted and they were often developing new programs when they saw a need, such as with local homeschoolers. In addition, the education department's reach went much farther than just zoo grounds. The Columbus Zoo recently entered a partnership with an African Safari Park called The Wilds, which is an hour and a half outside of Columbus. The education department oversees educational programming at this site, including a summer camp for teens. They also help host a Zoo School that is run through a local career center. The school brings in local high school juniors and seniors who are able to complete thesis-level conservation research. These students spend half a day on Zoo School campus and receive four high school class credits in general science, biology, chemistry, and statistics (may I just say I wish I'd had access to something like this in high school!). Overall many of their educational programs also focused on outreach and on locations outside of the zoo. This is mostly because the Columbus Zoo is actually outside of the city of Columbus and can be difficult to access for many residents, including those without cars. The education program stepped up to reach out to these residents and provides many educational opportunities outside of the zoo, including school programs. In addition, because the zoo received some financial support from the county for capital projects (overall, the zoo is a private non-profit), they wanted to be sure to serve the community and best use their tax dollars.
During my interview, I discussed with an education employee how for some zoos, the term 'educational' may not be the best fit for all they try to do. Many members of the public see the word education as meaning a school program or a lecture and may not think that the show they saw would be deemed an educational experience. Perhaps there is a lexical gap in what to properly call some education departments, as one may need a term which incorporates interpretation and the importance of entertainment into the overall experience. Many people come to the zoo as a family event or for entertainment and end up learning along the way, but is education the best term for every way they may learn within a zoo?
Thankfully the education building was close to the entrance and I went there first. The education department at the Columbus Zoo started in the early 80's with Jack Hanna and a few other educators. Then only three years ago, it became split between Promotions, which handles Jack Hanna's programs such as the animal encounters village, and Education, which handles many 'education proper' programs such as summer camps and an early childhood program called Zoo Tots.
A binturong starred in the Animals on Safari show.
During my interview, I discussed with an education employee how for some zoos, the term 'educational' may not be the best fit for all they try to do. Many members of the public see the word education as meaning a school program or a lecture and may not think that the show they saw would be deemed an educational experience. Perhaps there is a lexical gap in what to properly call some education departments, as one may need a term which incorporates interpretation and the importance of entertainment into the overall experience. Many people come to the zoo as a family event or for entertainment and end up learning along the way, but is education the best term for every way they may learn within a zoo?
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Indianapolis Zoo
Getting to the Indianapolis Zoo made me start to realize the concentration of zoos in the Midwest. Gone were the two days with eight hours of driving each between zoos, suddenly I was traveling from one to the next with barely a day in between, and soon it would take me only four hours to get from one zoo to the next. This became more apparent when learning more about the Indianapolis, or Indy, Zoo - it had to deal with a lot of competition from the many zoos in the area, including some that I would later visit. One of the ways it approached this was by being a very customer-driven zoo which focused on serving its visitors and providing for what people wanted from their zoo.
This rung very true within their education department. The Indy Zoo focuses much of their programming on what is desired and what has been most popular. Part of this is because they are an entirely private zoo, with no funding from the government on any level, so the programs that create income are also prioritized. This includes some of their star programs, such as an extensive overnight program and a dolphin-in-water encounter. These programs, as well as smaller ones such as their Elephant Bathings and Art Adventures, reached huge numbers of people from all age groups. But their education department went far beyond the normal set of programs and was actually very integrated throughout the zoo. Their education department oversaw all "keeper" chats (in fact, they were usually the ones doing the chatting while keepers or trainers interacted with the animal), helped design educational programming and interactive sections for all new exhibits, and were in charge of interpretation at the zoo's shark touch tank. It seemed that all visitor interaction and interpretation on site, no matter if it was a teen volunteer interpreting at a Discovery Cart or a keeper chat with the tigers, was managed by the education department, even in areas that would normally be handled by area-specific or animal care employees. This more holistic view led to an education department which knew exactly what was being taught in all areas of the zoo, in ways from signage to direct interpretation, and seemed to be able to follow the visitor's journey easily and understand what they were learning at every step of the way.
The zoo, like many that I visited, was in somewhat of a transitionary period. They were in the process of restructuring their educational programming, which included steps such as doing away with their education animals after the collection itself was seen as no longer relevant (most of them went to other zoos, and some retired to their caretakers). They were deciding how new programming would be developed and how that would work with their new exhibits.
But there was still a central idea that followed through this transition and shaped all that they did. If people don't love the animals, they won't care. The Indy Zoo worked tirelessly and catered to visitor's desires with one overarching idea in mind: inspire them to genuinely love an animal. Any way that people could interact and bond with this animal was seen as legitimate, and many different methods of doing so were included. They constantly evaluated their audience to see what was working and took all evaluation into account. Overall, they used a holistic educational approach throughout the zoo which I could feel even as an observer.
As a side note, Indianapolis will not have an accompanying video blog because the footage for it has been unfortunately lost due to a memory card mishap. It was beautiful to see however, and you'll just have to view it for yourself.
This rung very true within their education department. The Indy Zoo focuses much of their programming on what is desired and what has been most popular. Part of this is because they are an entirely private zoo, with no funding from the government on any level, so the programs that create income are also prioritized. This includes some of their star programs, such as an extensive overnight program and a dolphin-in-water encounter. These programs, as well as smaller ones such as their Elephant Bathings and Art Adventures, reached huge numbers of people from all age groups. But their education department went far beyond the normal set of programs and was actually very integrated throughout the zoo. Their education department oversaw all "keeper" chats (in fact, they were usually the ones doing the chatting while keepers or trainers interacted with the animal), helped design educational programming and interactive sections for all new exhibits, and were in charge of interpretation at the zoo's shark touch tank. It seemed that all visitor interaction and interpretation on site, no matter if it was a teen volunteer interpreting at a Discovery Cart or a keeper chat with the tigers, was managed by the education department, even in areas that would normally be handled by area-specific or animal care employees. This more holistic view led to an education department which knew exactly what was being taught in all areas of the zoo, in ways from signage to direct interpretation, and seemed to be able to follow the visitor's journey easily and understand what they were learning at every step of the way.
One of the curious monkeys who I saw on my way to the Tiger Keeper Chat.
But there was still a central idea that followed through this transition and shaped all that they did. If people don't love the animals, they won't care. The Indy Zoo worked tirelessly and catered to visitor's desires with one overarching idea in mind: inspire them to genuinely love an animal. Any way that people could interact and bond with this animal was seen as legitimate, and many different methods of doing so were included. They constantly evaluated their audience to see what was working and took all evaluation into account. Overall, they used a holistic educational approach throughout the zoo which I could feel even as an observer.
As a side note, Indianapolis will not have an accompanying video blog because the footage for it has been unfortunately lost due to a memory card mishap. It was beautiful to see however, and you'll just have to view it for yourself.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Milwaukee County Zoo
I ended up at the Milwaukee Zoo because I had the opportunity to meet Nigel Rothfels, author of the book Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo. I read Savages and Beasts before setting out on my trip and used its historical examples and overarching themes as background information to contextualize many of my visits.
It was appropriate then that I learned so much about Milwaukee County Zoo's history. It was rare that I got an in-depth history of a zoo that went back more than five to ten years. I don't think this was the fault of anyone at the zoos, but more a general mindset I discovered both on my trip and while reading Savages and Beasts. The concept of education in zoos is often thought of as a constant, as if zoos were always designed for the educational purposes we use them for today. In reality, zoos were initially for research or entertainment, and the modern zoo we think of was created in Germany as a money-making initiative. Even the open space enclosures with hidden barriers (in contrast with the small metal cages of years past) were created by Hagenbeck, a zoo pioneer, to increase profits, not for any benefit to the animal. Sometimes it seemed like admitting the history of zoos and their relationship with education would invalidate the current educational value of zoos.
But Milwaukee embraced its long history and was proud of its growth, especially with its large library and archive. Their formal education program began in 1976, although before that they had an active docent program. The docents helped launch the program and a county extension agent was hired to become the director. The program started in a janitor's closet and soon after upgraded to a trailer in a parking lot. At that time, docents were directly involved with animal handling and care, although the Milwaukee County Zoo no longer allows docents or volunteers to handle animals. They gained a brick and mortar building in the zoo later and it contained three classrooms. In the mid 1990's they received a grant to build education classrooms throughout the zoo as well as Ed-Ops or educational opportunity boxes integrated with zoo exhibits. These boxes were designed to help school teachers educate their classes on field trips using objects already centered throughout the zoo, because the zoo had a thriving school program at that point. Around this time they began to lose core members of their dedicated docent team who had been there since the mid 1970's due to age and began to increase the number of paid staff they had devoted to education and specifically school programming. In their small building with only three classrooms they were running their free school-based programs, as well as their fee-based programs which were mainly catered to zoological society members, and the space was no longer suiting them. In the summer months they began to bring in trailers to help with an expansion for a number of years, and over more years they were able to fundraise for and build their new 30,000 square foot education building with eight classrooms which opened in 2004. Around that same time they began doing more outreach, first through a corporate sponsor, though that program went away when they lost the funding. They then began doing more classroom based outreach to schools, and these programs were adapted so they could be done on site at the zoo or travel to a nearby school. They also received a grant for a program called Kohl's Wild Theater which does interactive shows about conservation within the zoo.
Currently, the Milwaukee Zoo has a wide range of educational programming from early childhood to a lecture series for adults. This includes programs such as the Animal Ambassadors Continuum for young students in order to introduce them to learning about the zoo, a career day in August in which the public is able to learn about zoo and county career options. They also work closely with the zoo's diversity committee, especially for their career program, in order to recognize contributions of the zoo's minority employees and to better serve minority populations in the community.
The education program is a hybrid between the zoo proper and the Zoological Society, a nonprofit which helps to maintain the educational facility and support it. Both work in tandem to offer the best programming possible while generating revenue as they can in order to reduce costs to the Zoological Society.
While on my visit to the zoo I was able to see a few of their programs, such as Kohl's Wild Theater, in action. Overall touring the Milwaukee County Zoo and learning about their educational programming was an incredibly informative experience, though especially so in relation to their history. I wasn't able to learn much about how many education departments started or developed long term while on my trip, and being able to see an example of the growth of an education program was a unique and valuable opportunity.
It was appropriate then that I learned so much about Milwaukee County Zoo's history. It was rare that I got an in-depth history of a zoo that went back more than five to ten years. I don't think this was the fault of anyone at the zoos, but more a general mindset I discovered both on my trip and while reading Savages and Beasts. The concept of education in zoos is often thought of as a constant, as if zoos were always designed for the educational purposes we use them for today. In reality, zoos were initially for research or entertainment, and the modern zoo we think of was created in Germany as a money-making initiative. Even the open space enclosures with hidden barriers (in contrast with the small metal cages of years past) were created by Hagenbeck, a zoo pioneer, to increase profits, not for any benefit to the animal. Sometimes it seemed like admitting the history of zoos and their relationship with education would invalidate the current educational value of zoos.
But Milwaukee embraced its long history and was proud of its growth, especially with its large library and archive. Their formal education program began in 1976, although before that they had an active docent program. The docents helped launch the program and a county extension agent was hired to become the director. The program started in a janitor's closet and soon after upgraded to a trailer in a parking lot. At that time, docents were directly involved with animal handling and care, although the Milwaukee County Zoo no longer allows docents or volunteers to handle animals. They gained a brick and mortar building in the zoo later and it contained three classrooms. In the mid 1990's they received a grant to build education classrooms throughout the zoo as well as Ed-Ops or educational opportunity boxes integrated with zoo exhibits. These boxes were designed to help school teachers educate their classes on field trips using objects already centered throughout the zoo, because the zoo had a thriving school program at that point. Around this time they began to lose core members of their dedicated docent team who had been there since the mid 1970's due to age and began to increase the number of paid staff they had devoted to education and specifically school programming. In their small building with only three classrooms they were running their free school-based programs, as well as their fee-based programs which were mainly catered to zoological society members, and the space was no longer suiting them. In the summer months they began to bring in trailers to help with an expansion for a number of years, and over more years they were able to fundraise for and build their new 30,000 square foot education building with eight classrooms which opened in 2004. Around that same time they began doing more outreach, first through a corporate sponsor, though that program went away when they lost the funding. They then began doing more classroom based outreach to schools, and these programs were adapted so they could be done on site at the zoo or travel to a nearby school. They also received a grant for a program called Kohl's Wild Theater which does interactive shows about conservation within the zoo.
Currently, the Milwaukee Zoo has a wide range of educational programming from early childhood to a lecture series for adults. This includes programs such as the Animal Ambassadors Continuum for young students in order to introduce them to learning about the zoo, a career day in August in which the public is able to learn about zoo and county career options. They also work closely with the zoo's diversity committee, especially for their career program, in order to recognize contributions of the zoo's minority employees and to better serve minority populations in the community.
The education program is a hybrid between the zoo proper and the Zoological Society, a nonprofit which helps to maintain the educational facility and support it. Both work in tandem to offer the best programming possible while generating revenue as they can in order to reduce costs to the Zoological Society.
While on my visit to the zoo I was able to see a few of their programs, such as Kohl's Wild Theater, in action. Overall touring the Milwaukee County Zoo and learning about their educational programming was an incredibly informative experience, though especially so in relation to their history. I wasn't able to learn much about how many education departments started or developed long term while on my trip, and being able to see an example of the growth of an education program was a unique and valuable opportunity.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Minnesota Zoo
This entry was originally going to be about the Lake Superior Zoo. Only one day after I had begun my road trip, Duluth, MN was struck by a terrible flood and the zoo suffered property damage as well as the tragic loss of fourteen animals. Because of this it was understandable that I would be unable to visit the zoo while on my trip, though I had them in my heart when I visited Minnesota (if you're interested in helping out the Lake Superior Zoo, there are still ways to do so). The Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, Minnesota stepped up and allowed me to visit on short notice.
The Minnesota Zoo had one of the largest education department I saw and also had one of the largest staffs, with 60 to 75 employees including seasonal workers. This large department accommodated a host of diverse and unique programs. These programs included ones targeted for older teens and adults, something that was rare to find among many zoos. When asking about this in my interview, I found the reason for this myriad of programs was twofold: partly because of the zoo's philosophy to reach out to every facet of the community, and partly because of the amount of resources at its disposal. The zoo had a formal relationship with the state but only received about 25% of their funding from it, the rest came from ticket sales and donors. With such a large department and the capacity to do many educational programs which do not generate revenue, the Minnesota Zoo was privileged enough to put on these atypical programs and wished to use its advantage to engage as much of the community as possible.
The programs aimed at older teens and adults included a Speaker Series, Career Day, and travel programs. The Speaker Series is free, open to the public, and brings in local or national speakers with topics related to conservation or environmental issues. The Career Day program was originally designed to help accommodate the requests the zoo got for information about zoo careers, and is now a day long program which includes interactions with employees from throughout the zoo, and behind the scenes tours. The travel program, some of which is aimed at youth, allows people to travel with the zoo to work on hands-on conservation projects which are related to the zoo's collections, meaning that their work can directly impact zoo animals, such as a popular trip to Costa Rica to work with sloths.
Some of the programs for younger children included an interactive online game called WolfQuest, developed through an NSF grant, which targeted young gamers and had over 3 million downloads. They also had a diverse selection of Zoo Camps, as well as a highly successful outreach program called Zoo Mobile.
The Zoo Mobile housed and managed all of the Minnesota Zoo's education animals. If another program wanted to use an animal, they would have to request it, and some of the animals could only be used by Zoo Mobile staff. The trend of having a separate department manage education animals was one I first noticed in Dallas, and seemed to affect zoos differently. At some it seemed to create a larger rift between education proper and the outreach program, but at the same time it could free up resources within the education department when they do not have to maintain the education animals but can still use them in programming. The housing and care of education animals varied between zoos, from the animals being completely managed by education directorial staff and housed in education buildings, to being housed off-site and handled by a separate department. These differences did not create many palpable differences in programming however, as the zoos still used the education animals they had in similar ways.
Overall the Minnesota Zoo's education department was so huge it was sometimes hard to keep track of, and they were in the middle of a transition and some heavy strategic planning while I was there. But its massiveness was a lesson all its own - it was an example of what zoos can offer when given more funding, and could serve as an example for how donating to a zoo can help that zoo offer more for the community as a whole.
The Minnesota Zoo had one of the largest education department I saw and also had one of the largest staffs, with 60 to 75 employees including seasonal workers. This large department accommodated a host of diverse and unique programs. These programs included ones targeted for older teens and adults, something that was rare to find among many zoos. When asking about this in my interview, I found the reason for this myriad of programs was twofold: partly because of the zoo's philosophy to reach out to every facet of the community, and partly because of the amount of resources at its disposal. The zoo had a formal relationship with the state but only received about 25% of their funding from it, the rest came from ticket sales and donors. With such a large department and the capacity to do many educational programs which do not generate revenue, the Minnesota Zoo was privileged enough to put on these atypical programs and wished to use its advantage to engage as much of the community as possible.
Here is a moose at the Minnesota Zoo, which was the first moose I have ever seen in person. They're so big in real life!
The programs aimed at older teens and adults included a Speaker Series, Career Day, and travel programs. The Speaker Series is free, open to the public, and brings in local or national speakers with topics related to conservation or environmental issues. The Career Day program was originally designed to help accommodate the requests the zoo got for information about zoo careers, and is now a day long program which includes interactions with employees from throughout the zoo, and behind the scenes tours. The travel program, some of which is aimed at youth, allows people to travel with the zoo to work on hands-on conservation projects which are related to the zoo's collections, meaning that their work can directly impact zoo animals, such as a popular trip to Costa Rica to work with sloths.
Some of the programs for younger children included an interactive online game called WolfQuest, developed through an NSF grant, which targeted young gamers and had over 3 million downloads. They also had a diverse selection of Zoo Camps, as well as a highly successful outreach program called Zoo Mobile.
The Zoo Mobile housed and managed all of the Minnesota Zoo's education animals. If another program wanted to use an animal, they would have to request it, and some of the animals could only be used by Zoo Mobile staff. The trend of having a separate department manage education animals was one I first noticed in Dallas, and seemed to affect zoos differently. At some it seemed to create a larger rift between education proper and the outreach program, but at the same time it could free up resources within the education department when they do not have to maintain the education animals but can still use them in programming. The housing and care of education animals varied between zoos, from the animals being completely managed by education directorial staff and housed in education buildings, to being housed off-site and handled by a separate department. These differences did not create many palpable differences in programming however, as the zoos still used the education animals they had in similar ways.
Overall the Minnesota Zoo's education department was so huge it was sometimes hard to keep track of, and they were in the middle of a transition and some heavy strategic planning while I was there. But its massiveness was a lesson all its own - it was an example of what zoos can offer when given more funding, and could serve as an example for how donating to a zoo can help that zoo offer more for the community as a whole.
Great Plains Zoo
The Great Plains Zoo & Delbridge Museum of Natural History resides in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Getting to Sioux Falls from Boise, Idaho was an adventure all its own, involving a stop in Yellowstone National Park and driving through the entire state of Wyoming in one day. Being in this region made me realize the true distance between major cities, the vastness of the west. In this context, it made sense that the ZooMobile outreach and Sanford ZooExpress would travel 150 miles or 4 hours away in order to reach communities.
These two programs were just two of the many that the Great Plains Zoo offered. Their Zoo Club provided educational opportunities for children 15 months to 6 years old and Zoo Camps for those aged 2 to 11. Each camp or class is custom designed and pulls on the variety of resources the zoo has (such as their Museum of Natural History) and they run year round.
While the Great Plains Zoo offered many outreach opportunities, they also had interesting on-site programming, such as Biofact Tours. These are 60 minute on-site guided tours with integration of Biofacts at relevant exhibits.
One of the things I found interesting about the Great Plains Zoo's education program was that despite of their large and active outreach program, the education animals were still integrated into the main education department and cared for by the education specialists. Many of the zoos I went to had education animal collections which were handled by a different department, such as an outreach program. Here the animals were more integrated into the program as a whole. Though as a caveat, I wasn't able to see the education animals in holdings or in action, so this observation is conceptual.
The education program and the zoo itself had another unique aspect - the integration of the Delbridge Museum of Natural History. When I first read the combined name and realized the two had a partnership, I assumed the Museum was in a separate building and completely apart from the zoo. Instead, I was greeted with mounted animal specimens upon my immediate entrance to the zoo. This combination seemed off at first - as I read in Savages and Beasts, most modern zoo visitors are aghast at any 'dead' animals. But the Great Plains Zoo combined these animals with pride, and as I was given a tour, I realized that the Museum was much like a very well-organized set of Biofacts. These animals were on display in the same way the animals in the zoo were - they were there to foster connections with the natural world and to educate. In fact, perhaps my comparison to Biofacts did not do them justice, because as the person I interviewed put it in perspective, those animals were all part of the collection, and the ones in the zoo just happened to be the live collection.
Overall my visit to the Great Plains Zoo was productive and atypical, but in a positive way. I was given the tour and interview by a person from marketing, which gave me the special opportunity to understand how other zoo departments may view education. It also highlighted how an effective education program can be a true marketing tool for zoos. And of course, my visit had to be pretty awesome because I got to ride a camel:
These two programs were just two of the many that the Great Plains Zoo offered. Their Zoo Club provided educational opportunities for children 15 months to 6 years old and Zoo Camps for those aged 2 to 11. Each camp or class is custom designed and pulls on the variety of resources the zoo has (such as their Museum of Natural History) and they run year round.
While the Great Plains Zoo offered many outreach opportunities, they also had interesting on-site programming, such as Biofact Tours. These are 60 minute on-site guided tours with integration of Biofacts at relevant exhibits.
One of the things I found interesting about the Great Plains Zoo's education program was that despite of their large and active outreach program, the education animals were still integrated into the main education department and cared for by the education specialists. Many of the zoos I went to had education animal collections which were handled by a different department, such as an outreach program. Here the animals were more integrated into the program as a whole. Though as a caveat, I wasn't able to see the education animals in holdings or in action, so this observation is conceptual.
The education program and the zoo itself had another unique aspect - the integration of the Delbridge Museum of Natural History. When I first read the combined name and realized the two had a partnership, I assumed the Museum was in a separate building and completely apart from the zoo. Instead, I was greeted with mounted animal specimens upon my immediate entrance to the zoo. This combination seemed off at first - as I read in Savages and Beasts, most modern zoo visitors are aghast at any 'dead' animals. But the Great Plains Zoo combined these animals with pride, and as I was given a tour, I realized that the Museum was much like a very well-organized set of Biofacts. These animals were on display in the same way the animals in the zoo were - they were there to foster connections with the natural world and to educate. In fact, perhaps my comparison to Biofacts did not do them justice, because as the person I interviewed put it in perspective, those animals were all part of the collection, and the ones in the zoo just happened to be the live collection.
Overall my visit to the Great Plains Zoo was productive and atypical, but in a positive way. I was given the tour and interview by a person from marketing, which gave me the special opportunity to understand how other zoo departments may view education. It also highlighted how an effective education program can be a true marketing tool for zoos. And of course, my visit had to be pretty awesome because I got to ride a camel:
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Zoo Boise
Getting to Zoo Boise was an adventure all its own – I’d
never been to the Pacific Northwest, and seeing the mountains of Boise after
driving through the deserts of Utah was a welcome view.
Zoo Boise
is in the heart of downtown Boise and nestled in the larger Julia Davis Park.
It was a smaller zoo than some of the ones I visited throughout the trip, but
it definitely utilized all of its space and offered a wide range of exhibits. I
could see easily how the zoo was a classroom for the education department.
Education
at Zoo Boise was a lot like the zoo: it wasn’t massive but it was very
multi-faceted. A pre-school program designed solely by Zoo Boise allowed for
children aged three to five to be introduced to zoo animals. The animal
artifacts used in programs weren’t just there as a supplement, they had fact
sheets attached which included ‘Teachable Concepts’ about the artifact and
connected them to zoo animals on exhibit. Their volunteer program included
opportunities for teens and adults. The teen program was both an opportunity to
teach the public and to educate the teens on zoo topics or job skills. Adult
volunteers could be Naturalists educating at immersive exhibits or working as
animal care volunteers. The summer camps were one of their most complex
programs, with wide ranges of subjects and ages served. They were also valued
as a revenue generator.
Zoo Boise
is a public-private zoo, funded both by the city and a private non-profit. The
city of Boise funded operating costs through tax dollars, which was why
education programs were discounted for Boise residents. In addition, a
non-profit
called the Friends of Zoo Boise helped fund the education
department, including salaries.
Zoo Boise
had designed many of its own programs and looked to the future for more. They
were interested in creating adult programming when they had the resources and
funds to do so. Their process of designing programming pulled from established
resources such as Project Wild, but they also heavily focused on animals held in
the education collection.
Here was the giraffe after happily accepting my offer of a lettuce leaf.
Overall Zoo Boise emphasized a
hands-on approach with all of its education. I could see that they fostered a
connection through direct interaction with the animals, whether through
demonstrations, sloth bear feedings, or giraffe encounters. Zoo Boise wanted
those participating in education programs as well as general zoo visitors to
have opportunities to see and even touch animals close up in order to foster
educational opportunities.
Monday, September 10, 2012
The Dallas Zoo
I arrived at
the Dallas zoo after a long trek from Arkansas and found a behemoth of a zoo
waiting for me. I would find it had an
education department to match.
That
morning I met up with a photographer for the Dallas Zoo, who gave me a tour and
allowed me to film throughout the zoo. I saw some of the ways they integrated
education on-grounds, such as the Nature Exchange (a program that allowed
children to trade in things found in nature for points towards other natural
relics) and Discovery House (a small house-style exhibit with live animal
demos) within the Children’s Zoo.
I found this little baby viper in the reptile nursery.
The Dallas Zoo had education
components everywhere, and though its department was rather large, it was also
segmented. An overarching category called Education and Interpretation included
the children’s zoo, graphics department, Wilds of Africa Interpretation (a
large immersive exhibit with stations for interpretation such as giraffe
feedings), Outreach Departments including special events, outreach shows, and
PR, and finally Education ‘Proper’ which ran on site programs such as classes
and overnights. While throughout the trip I found many education departments
were leaned on for this kind of work, few had the official designation and
distinct separations of employees as Dallas had. They all answered to a single
director and seemed to be in good communication with one another.
It seemed
that the segmentation in Dallas led to great specialization. Their outreach
program had more animals than usual, 6 to 8 for a 45-minute session, perhaps because of Outreach being a separate
department. Outreach also oversaw all education animals and other programs had
to request them from Outreach, which I found happened in other zoos with large
outreach animal programs. Education proper had staff fully devoted to handling
reservations. There were also many outside resources and partnerships that
education utilized, such as working within a network of local informal
educators. Dallas was one of the largest cities I visited, and I could feel its
need to serve such a huge volume of people. To me, this grouping looked to help
the Dallas Zoo run like an efficient machine.
The Dallas
Zoo had a few unique programs I wanted to spotlight. The first was their youth
volunteer program, which started at one of the youngest ages I’d seen: 11 and
12. Without parents these kids could come to the zoo and volunteer as Junior
Zookeepers. As a former teen volunteer myself, volunteer programs have always
been a love of mine and it was interesting to see a zoo running such a young
volunteer program when many zoos don’t have one for anyone under 18. Another
program was their Frog Club, a family program in which families train to
identify and track frog calls. The data families collect are sent to Texas Park
and Wildlife to help with frog conservation.
Overall,
visiting the Dallas Zoo was my first introduction into the sectioning of
education departments, something I’d encounter at many of the zoos after it. I
saw that understanding organizational structure is an important step into
gaining insight on how an education department ran. The small details can be a
thrill to learn about, but Dallas helped me see the big picture.
Dallas Zoo Basics Overview:
- Number of employees: ~45 (seasonal fluctuation)
- Funding: Private, with some building/land subsidies from city
- Facilities: portable classrooms and buildings off site of zoo proper, education animal holdings, stage for animal shows, classrooms throughout zoo, utilize children’s zoo in some programming.
- Education/program animals: Yes. Coordinated through outreach program.
- Volunteers: Yes. Teens and adults.
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