Some Immediate and Longer-Term Effects of a Zoo Exhibit

Abstract

Many people visit zoos each year to be entertained, restored, and educated. While the spotlight is usually on animals and habitats, zoos are increasmgly focusing on humans and their role in environmental stewardship. The primate exhibit at Brookfield Zoo in Illinois was designed to address this new focus. The exhibit includes a multi-stage educational experience at its exit that highlights what visitors can do to incorporate conservation behavior into their lives. A feature of such an experience is the short time one spends in it. This article examines the effect of this brief educational exposure. The •Bal.cd in part on a paper presented at the 31st Annual North American Association for Environmental Education Conference, Bol.LOn, Massachusens. © 2011 , Baywood Publishing Co., Inc. doi: 10.21 90/ES.33. 1 .b http ://baywood .com 19 20 I DE YOUNG ET AL. findings indicate that the experience does increase interest among those behaviors that demand a considerable investment of time. While a follow-up survey revealed this interest diminished over time, the exhibit's core messages were resilient. This study provides evidence that even bricny experienced, free-choice educational exhibits can promote concern for environmental stewardship. The American Zoo and Aquarium Association has challenged zoos to serve as conservation centers for their communities and to inspire visitors to adopt conservation behavior (Rabb & Saunders, 2005). Zoos arc meeting this challenge by developing holistic, ecosystem-based approaches that seck to change the public's environmental knowledge, skills, and behavior. Studies show that zoo visitors support these approaches (Andcrcck & Caldwell, 1994; Chicago Zoological Society & Lincoln Park Zoological Society, IW3; Milan & Wourms, 1992; Morgan & Hodgkinson, 1996). Indeed, the visiting public considers environmental education to be a primary role of zoos and aquariums (Dierking, Burtnyk, Buchner, & Falk, 2002; Mazur, 1993; Stoinski, Ogden, Gold, & Maple, 1999) and a vast majority of visitors want to learn more about environmental stewardship, including spcci fie conservation behaviors they can adopt (Dierking ct al., 2002). Learning while visiting a zoo is of particular interest to families with children (Andcrcck & Caldwell, 1994), a group who are frequent zoo visitors (Chicago Zoological Society & Lincoln Park Zoological Society, 1993). Because fami lies with children arc particularly receptive to educational interventions. an opportunity exists for zoos to increase environmental knowledge and encourage conservation behavior. A variety of strategies exist for promoting conservation behavior throughout society (Vining & Ebreo, 2002). These include long-term interventions in formal settings (e.g .• classroom programs) and short-term informal experiences (e.g., visual prompts, public service announcements, educational exhibit) (Zclczny, 1999). In practice, getting people to adopt conservation behavior has proven to be more difficult than originally supposed (De Young, 1993, 2000). It is suggested that to be more effective we should apply interventions repeatedly, at different societal levels (Allen & Ferrand, 1999). Thus, it would seem particularly difficult to affect change using short-term experiences in informal settings. The study reported here is an assessment of just such a short-term intervention in the informal setting of a zoo. Numerous studies suggest that zoos can positively influence visitors' environmental knowledge, attitudes. and behaviors (Dierking ct al., 2002). To test this claim we examined whether a simple, briefly experienced, free-choice exhibit could encourage zoo visitors to become conservation-minded citizens (Saunders & Stuart-Perry, 1997). The outcomes measured included visitors' intentions and behavior at different points in time: while at the zoo and several months later. SOME EFFECTS OF A ZOO EXHIBIT I 21