Staring at Signs: Biology Undergraduates Pay Attention to Signs More Often than Animals at the Zoo

Abstract

AbstractFree‐choice learning in zoos is often linked to attention, though little is known about what objects undergraduates pay attention to during such experiences. Eye‐tracking equipment can provide measures of behavioral data that visitor observations are not able to capture. Thus, we asked: (1) What aspects of a zoo exhibit do biology undergraduates pay attention to? and (2) Does eye‐tracking behavior differ between introductory and advanced biology students at a single zoo exhibit? While freely exploring a Komodo dragon exhibit during a zoo trip, participating undergraduates wore a pair of eye‐tracking glasses, which recorded gaze and fixations on objects, among other variables. We conducted this qualitative case study with students in three biology courses at one institution at a single zoo exhibit, and thus do not attempt to generalize our findings to general zoo visitors. We found that interpretative signs were the primary focus of attention among our sample of biology undergraduates, and that novice and expert‐like undergraduates sometimes demonstrated different behavioral patterns in what they paid attention to at the zoo. Interestingly, neither novice nor expert‐like students focused more on the Komodo dragon in comparison to other areas of interest in the exhibit.