ZooWEB: Worldwide Education for Biodiversity (A Planning Grant)

September 1st, 1995 - August 31st, 1997 | PROJECT

The San Francisco Zoological Society will use this planning grant to involve representatives of their audience in the development of the learning experiences that will be encorporated into their new exhibit program "ZooWEB: Worldwide Education for Biodiversity." They will bring together an Advisory Panel made up of representatives of a broad spectrum of potential and current zoo visitors (traditionally underserved groups, formal education specialists, people with special needs, family groups, scientists) and science educators to meet with the zoo's Planning Team who are developing the master interpretive plan called ZOO Web. ZooWEB will adapt ecological themes and topics from the section of Systems and Interactions in the California State Science Framework for Public Schools. The planning activity is a modification of a business model designed to understand and meet customer needs by constant improvement of product and service quality pioneered by W. Edwards Deming. This is a considerable departure from the traditional manner in which zoo interpretation is developed. Thus, the Zoo will implement a new approach to exhibit development, one that begins with focusing on visitors' interests in science, their needs, learning styles, perceptions of zoos, etc. Data will be gathered by a number of techniques including focus groups, interviews, and surveys. Results of the planning activity will be broadly disseminated.

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Team Members

Diane Demee-Benoit, Principal Investigator, San Francisco Zoological Society

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 9453095
Funding Amount: 49986

Tags

Audience: Evaluators | General Public | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Ecology | forestry | agriculture | Education and learning science | Life science
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Aquarium and Zoo Exhibits | Exhibitions