Evaluation of a Third-Generation Zoo Exhibit in Relation to Visitor Behavior and Interpretation Use

Moss, Andrew; Esson, Maggie; Francis, David

doi:10.1177/109258721001500203

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“… [9] , [20] – [22] ); indeed it is reported that most zoos have active visitor research [23] , but publication of results appears relatively rare. More recently, a few studies have begun to assess how education goals are met [7] , [24] – [27] , but these publications, in the specialist zoo and museum literature, do not appear to address the wider implications and importance of this kind of research. As zoos are starting to realise the wider scientific and social importance of their research into visitor behaviour, universities are realising the need to engage with the public and are looking for means to do so.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Public Engagement with Science in a University Primate Research Centre in a National Zoo

2012

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Recent years have seen increasing encouragement by research institutions and funding bodies for scientists to actively engage with the public, who ultimately finance their work. Animal behaviour as a discipline possesses several features, including its inherent accessibility and appeal to the public, that may help it occupy a particularly successful niche within these developments. It has also established a repertoire of quantitative behavioural methodologies that can be used to document the public's responses to engagement initiatives. This kind of assessment is becoming increasingly important considering the enormous effort now being put into public engagement projects, whose effects are more often assumed than demonstrated. Here we report our first attempts to quantify relevant aspects of the behaviour of a sample of the hundreds of thousands of visitors who pass through the ‘Living Links to Human Evolution Research Centre’ in Edinburgh Zoo. This University research centre actively encourages the public to view ongoing primate research and associated science engagement activities. Focal follows of visitors and scan sampling showed substantial ‘dwell times’ in the Centre by common zoo standards and the addition of new engagement elements in a second year was accompanied by significantly increased overall dwell times, tripling for the most committed two thirds of visitors. Larger groups of visitors were found to spend more time in the Centre than smaller ones. Viewing live, active science was the most effective activity, shown to be enhanced by novel presentations of carefully constructed explanatory materials. The findings emphasise the importance and potential of zoos as public engagement centres for the biological sciences.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Public Engagement with Science in a University Primate Research Centre in a National Zoo

2012

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“…The results of this effort appear in a series of four articles published as a special issue in the Journal (2013-18(2)). Their study provided empirical Barrett et al (2017), Beck et al (2015), Benton andSinha (2011), Bixler et al (2015), Bourque et al (2014), Britt (2017), Burris (2019), Douglas et al (2018), Gilson and Kool (2019), Hall et al (2010), Ham (2013), Henker and Brown (2011), Knapp and Forist (2014), Lawhon et al (2017), Macklin et al (2010), Montero et al (2018), Morgan and Hwang (2014), Moss et al (2010), Ogle (2016), Stern (2013a, 2013b), Price et al (2018), Rahaman and Kian (2017), Reese (2013), Ren and Folta (2016),…”

Section: Interpretive Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking Stock of Interpretation Research: Where Have We Been and Where are We Heading?

Stern

Powell

2020

Journal of Interpretation Research

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We reviewed all manuscripts published within the Journal of Interpretation Research from 2010 to 2019 to identify lessons learned from the past decade and to propose future directions to advance the field. The last decade of the Journal featured a wide diversity of studies, including evaluations of interpretive programs and trainings, examinations of specific interpretive techniques, and various other related topics. We summarize the decade’s contributions and share lessons learned associated with interpretive techniques; organizational practices; professional development; diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice; visitor characteristics; and motivating attendance at interpretive programs. We then identify eight areas for future research, including: (1) measuring more ambitious outcomes; (2) identifying effective practices for diverse audiences; (3) studying innovations through adaptive management; (4) examining intergenerational learning; (5) evaluating professional development; (6) conducting organizational studies; (7) investigating the politics of interpretation and sensitive topics; and (8) partnering on research for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.

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“…Exhibit areas are designed including the topography and the types of plants in animals' natural environments and without including any boundary elements that distort the visual entegrity between animals and visitors 15,22,24,26,27 . Watching areas are outside the exhibit areas, which decreases the negative effect of crowds on animals and enable animals to exhibit more natural behaviors 23 . Therefore, animals are exhibited in a way that is suitable for their orginal habitats without destroying their social structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visitors Experiences in Different Zoo Exhibits

Yılmaz

Düzenli

Çiğdem

2017

Curr. World Environ

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Zoos help people to learn through exhibiting the relationships of animals in nature. Therefore, they have the important missions of education and protection of wild life. Most of these missions are achieved through visitors' experiences in exhibit areas. Therefore, it is important to understand visitors' experiences in the zoo and know the reasons that affect these experiences. Animals should exhibit normal behaviors actively to enable visitors to have positive experiences during their visits. For this reason, the design of exhibit areas is significant. The purpose of this study is to determine the visitors' perceptual descriptions in the zoos including different exhibit areas and their reasons to visit them. Thus, the role of the zoos in enabling visitors to learn nature protection and have environmental consciousness is explored correlating with zoo typologies. In this study, three zoos in different typologies in Turkey have been examined and it is conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the typologies of the zoos have been identified. In the second stage, a questionnaire has been conducted to find out the visitors' visiting aims, the extent they reached these aims, their level of appreciation and their perceptions on exhibit areas. The questionnaire has been performed with 450 zoo visitors, and there have been 150 visitors from each zoo. According to the results of this study, it has been explored that visitors visit the zoos mostly for "education" without considering the design approach. However, it has been found out that the design of exhibit areas affects visitors' level of appreciation and their zoo descriptions. It has been identified that as the level of appreciation increases, the level of reaching aims increases.

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Evaluation of a Third-Generation Zoo Exhibit in Relation to Visitor Behavior and Interpretation Use

Cited by 20 publications

References 24 publications

Assessing Public Engagement with Science in a University Primate Research Centre in a National Zoo

Assessing Public Engagement with Science in a University Primate Research Centre in a National Zoo

Taking Stock of Interpretation Research: Where Have We Been and Where are We Heading?

Visitors Experiences in Different Zoo Exhibits

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