Incorporating personal experience in free-choice environmental learning: lessons from a zoological theme park

Abstract

Conservation education can be fostered through formal and informal learning. An increasing number of zoological facilities with conservation missions have provided experiential learning venues characterized by self-directed, self-motivated and diversified learning experience integrated with fun and entertainment. In this paper, we develop an emotion–time–space model to address the diversity in visitors’ experience and its influence on conservation intentions. An empirical study at Ocean Park, Hong Kong indicated that visitor’s emotions, temporal and spatial behaviour influence the effectiveness of conservation education. Changes of personal emotions during the entire visit, the sequence of stops made, and the nature and combinations of attractions visited matter in explaining stronger intentions to protect animals and the environment. These findings have implications for zoological theme park design and improvements of learning outcomes in a free-choice learning environment.

Keywords:

• Free-choice environmental learning
• conservation education
• zoological theme parks
• time
• space
• emotions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Xiaoting Huang is Professor in the School of Tourism Management at Shandong University. Her main research interests are tourism design and planning, temporal tourism planning and tourist behaviour.

Becky P. Y. Loo is Professor and Head of the Department of Geography at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). She is also the Director of the Institute of Transport Studies, HKU. Her main research interests are transportation, e-technologies (defined as microelectronics, informatics and telecommunications), and society.

Ying Zhao is Associate Professor in the School of Tourism Management at Sun Yat-sen University. Her main research interests include space-time behaviour of tourists, personal mobility and sustainability, and urban leisure behaviour.

Alice S. Y. Chow is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Education University. Her current research areas are urban form and travel studies, excess commuting, sustainable transport development (e.g. transit-oriented development), climate change, and aviation policy.