Quantifying the long-term impact of zoological education: a study of learning in a zoo and an aquarium

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that zoos and aquariums do, as intended, educate their visitors. However, even though most zoos offer a wide array of educational experiences, few studies have considered if the duration of an educational experience affects learning or whether learning lasts beyond the immediate visit. The current study used matched-pairs surveys to investigate children’s knowledge, attitude and knowledge of positive behavior during both a five-day zoo camp and six months after an aquarium visit. The participants of the study included children aged 9–12 years some of whom had participated in a purposefully designed educational intervention. First, the impact of a five-day zoo camp experience on children’s learning was investigated. Second, learning retention was investigated six months after a school tour at an aquarium. Results showed that during the camp learning was positively affected by participation in the educational intervention and by previous zoo experience. Girls were more likely than boys to have an increase in learning six months after an aquarium visit. The study demonstrates that learning persists, but that education can be enhanced with longer programs. Thus, zoos can play an increasingly important role in igniting pro-environmental behavior.

Keywords:

• Zoological education
• long-term learning
• environmental education camp
• follow-up study
• educational intervention

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the staff at Fota Wildlife Park and Dingle Aquarium for their advice, time and support of this project. We would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the school and the many children that participated in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

We would also like to acknowledge the Irish Federation of University Teachers, as well as, the School of BEES at UCC for their financial contribution towards this research.