Sunday, July 25th, 2010
by Liam Smith, Jim Curtis, and Pieter van Dijk
Abstract
Zoos have some choice about which pro-wildlife behaviors to ask their visitors to do, but with this freedom comes the difficult task of choosing behaviors that are appropriate, effective, and that do not affect visitors’ experiences. This paper presents attributes of pro-wildlife behaviors that emerged from self-completed questionnaires administered to 114 zoo visitors. Questions sought to elicit attributes that visitors felt should be considered in the behavior selection process. The results say that behaviors should: have an on-site option; be new, or if known, include new learning that underpins why they are needed; be easy to do; and have a clear link between the behavior and how it helps wildlife. Respondents also made comments about specific behaviors as well as how behaviors should or should not be requested. We suggest that visitors’ perspectives be incorporated into pro-wildlife behavior selection in zoos, and we propose that these findings may be relevant beyond zoos.
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All Photos are © copyright Zoos Victoria.
Copyright © 2010 The California Academy of Sciences
DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00033.x About DOI
Tags: behavior, experience, Jim Curtis, Liam Smith, Pieter van Dijk, pro-wildlife, Tourism Research Unit, visit, visitors, zoo
Posted in 53:3, articles, theory & practice | No Comments »
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
by Linda Duke
Abstract
Museums offer visitors direct experiences—such as visual experiences—that are not available elsewhere in daily life. Learning through verbal information is part of it, yet the aesthetic experience is always outside of the “right-answer paradigm.” Cognitive development occurs when perceptions inform thinking, thoughts are expressed in language, and expressed thoughts invite reconsideration of the material at hand. Both science and art require the development of these skills. Science and art museum educators can and should advocate the value of looking, thinking, wondering about complexity, and discussing the results.
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- Linda Duke (LDuke@imamuseum.org) is director of education at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Copyright © 2010 The California Academy of Sciences
DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00028.x About DOI
Tags: cognitive development, education, educators, experience, Linda Duke, museum, museum visit
Posted in 53:3, Forum, museum visit | No Comments »
Friday, February 5th, 2010
by Andrew J. Pekarik
The ways that museums measure the success of their exhibitions reveal their attitudes and values. Are they striving to control visitors so that people will experience what the museum wants? Or are they working to support visitors, who seek to find their own path? The type of approach known as ‘‘outcome-based evaluation’’ weighs in on the side of control. These outcomes are sometimes codified and limited to some half-dozen or so ‘‘learning objectives’’ or ‘‘impact categories.’’ In essence, those who follow this approach are committed to creating exhibitions that will tell visitors what they must experience. Yet people come to museums to construct something new and personally meaningful (and perhaps unexpected or unpredictable) for themselves. They come for their own reasons, see the world through their own frameworks, and may resist (and even resent) attempts to shape their experience. How can museums design and evaluate exhibitions that seek to support visitors rather than control them? How can museum professionals cultivate ‘‘not knowing’’ as a motivation for improving what they do?
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- Andrew J. Pekarik (pekarika@si.edu) is Program Analyst in the Office of Policy and Analysis, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Tags: Andrew J. Pekarik, audiences, control, evaluation, exhibitions, experience, frameworks, impact categories, learning objectives, meaning, outcome, outcome-based evaluation, visitors
Posted in 53:1, articles, audiences, exhibitions, learning, research | No Comments »
