Investigating Primary School Learners’ Knowledge and Awareness of Wild Animals and Their Habitat Before Visiting the Zoological Garden: A Case Study (original) (raw)
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Millions of children visit zoos every year with parents or schools to encounter wildlife firsthand. Public conservation education is a requirement for membership in professional zoo associations. However, in recent years zoos have been criticized for failing to educate the public on conservation issues and related biological concepts, such as animal adaptation to habitats. I used matched pre- and postvisit mixed methods questionnaires to investigate the educational value of zoo visits for children aged 7–15 years. The questionnaires gathered qualitative data from these individuals, including zoo-related thoughts and an annotated drawing of a habitat. A content analysis of these qualitative data produced the quantitative data reported in this article. I evaluated the relative learning outcomes of educator-guided and unguided zoo visits at London Zoo, both in terms of learning about conservation biology (measured by annotated drawings) and changing attitudes toward wildlife conservation (measured using thought-listing data). Forty-one percent of educator-guided visits and 34% of unguided visits resulted in conservation biology-related learning. Negative changes in children's understanding of animals and their habitats were more prevalent in unguided zoo visits. Overall, my results show the potential educational value of visiting zoos for children. However, they also suggest that zoos’ standard unguided interpretive materials are insufficient for achieving the best outcomes for visiting children. These results support a theoretical model of conservation biology learning that frames conservation educators as toolmakers who develop conceptual resources to enhance children's understanding of science.
2010
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Students (ages 6, 10, and 15 years) in six countries knowledge of animals
Nordic Studies in Science Education
This article considers the knowledge students (ages 6, 10, and 15 years) have of animals from a cross-cultural perspective. Students from six countries (Brazil, England, Finland, Iceland, Portugal, and the United States of America) were asked to free-list as many animals as possible and state where they had seen or learned about the animals. The results were analyzed and they indicate that 1) Students are aware of animals. 2) Students are more aware of mammals as examples of animals. 3) There is a globally shared folk biological knowledge of animals. 4) Students learn about animals during sociocultural interactions. The educational implications are discussed.
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Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 2023
Human actions threaten animal species with extinction at an accelerating rate. Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) is a key factor in tackling biodiversity loss by preparing future citizens to undertake conservation actions. This study deals with the awareness and the attitudes of 401 primary school students toward wild animals, focusing on local threatened species. Although students appear to have a satisfactory level of awareness of wild animals, they are significantly less aware of local species and confused regarding threatened ones. Bird species gain the lowest recognition. Habitat transformation and climate change are not well-known threats. Students have primarily naturalistic, and ecologistic attitudes. They like animals mainly due to their perceived appearance, intelligence and being in danger of extinction, while they dislike them based on the threat they pose to humans and other animals. The findings can inspire ESE practitioners to develop effective educational programs for wild animal conservation.
Classroom Animals Provide More Than Just Science Education
Keeping classroom animals is a common practice in many classrooms. Their value for learning is often seen narrowly as the potential to involve children in learning biological science. They also provide opportunities for increased empathy, as well as socio-emotional development. Realization of their potential for enhancing primary children’s learning can be affected by many factors. This paper focuses on teachers’ perceptions of classroom animals, drawing on accounts and reflections provided by 19 participants located in an Australian primary school where each classroom kept an animal. This study aims to progress the conversation about classroom animals, the learning opportunities that they afford, and the issues they present. Phenomenographic analysis of data resulted in five categories of teachers’ perceptions of the affordances and constraints of keeping classroom animals. Herbert S & Lynch J 2017 (Online First, 25/02/2017), Classroom Animals Provide More Than Just Science Education, Science and Education, DOI 10.1007/s11191-017-9874-6 Online first: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11191-017-9874-6?wt\_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst
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International Journal of Hands- …, 2008
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Building a model of the environment: how do children see animals?
Journal of Biological Education, 1999
In order to name an animal they see, children use their existing mental models to provide the animal with a name. In this study, pupils of a range of ages (4, 8, 11 and 14 years old) were presented with preserved specimens of six different animals and asked a series of questions about them. The results indicate that pupils of all ages mainly recognise and use anatomical features when naming the animals and explaining why they are what they are. However, older pupils are more likely to also use behavioural and habitat attributes. For both girls and boys, the home and direct observation are more important as sources of knowledge than school or books, though books seem more important for boys than for girls. As pupils age, their reasons for grouping animals become more complicated: in addition to relying on shared anatomical features, they begin to show evidence of an embedded taxonomic knowledge, knowing, for instance, what a mammal is and using this knowledge to group animals.
2011
Millions of children visit zoos every year with their parents or schools in order to learn about wildlife firsthand. Moreover, public conservation education is a basic requirement for membership in professional zoo associations. However, in recent years there has been increasing criticism of zoos from animal rights groups for failing to demonstrate their averred value for public understanding of conservation and related biological concepts such as animal adaptation to habitats. Indeed, no study to date has fully assessed scientific learning for the key zoo audience of children. The present study represents the largest (n=3018) and most methodologically robust investigation of the educational value of zoos for children aged 7-15 ever conducted worldwide. This research evaluates the relative educational impact of educator-guided and unguided zoo visits at ZSL London Zoo, both in terms of the development of new knowledge about conservation biology and changing attitudes towards wildlife conservation. Results show a strong statistically significant increase in learning about animals and habitats from pre- to post-zoo visit. Moreover, zoo visits supplemented by an educational presentation almost doubled the aggregate increase in scientific learning found for unguided zoo visits. Conversely, negative changes in children’s understanding of animals and their habitats were much more prevalent in unguided zoo visits. Overall, this study offers the strongest evidence to date of the potential educational value of visiting zoos for children and young people. However, it also identifies problematic patterns that can emerge if zoos’ educational provision is insufficient. Given that hundreds of millions of people visit zoos every year, rigorous assessment of their value as sites for public conservation education holds important implications for public knowledge and attitudes towards key concepts relating to conservation biology.