The effect of visitor motivation on the success of environmental education at the Toronto Zoo

Abstract

With the number and scope of environmental challenges continuing to increase, an understanding of the effectiveness of conservation programs is essential in order to allocate limited resources. This paper examines the effectiveness of environmental education within a zoo setting, focusing on the role of learners' identity-related motivation. Results from survey (n = 296) and interview (n = 116) data collected from visitors to the Toronto Zoo suggest that education success is dependent on visitors' dominant motivation, with preliminary data suggesting that Spiritual Pilgrims and Experience Seekers demonstrate greater gains in knowledge of environmental issues compared with Facilitators. Given that most zoo visitors fell into this Facilitator group, this finding may have an effect on future zoo management decisions. In addition, the proportion of visitors falling into each motivation group was significantly different than those previously found in the United States ( p = 0.05), suggesting that zoo education strategies developed internationally may not be directly transferable to the Toronto Zoo.

Exploring the implications of cultural diversity for environmental learning at an African aquarium

“…The pathways to learning also reflected some similarities between the visitors (Section 5.4.2). For all respondents, motivations influenced the experience during the visit and subsequent learning, a finding in common with previous research Falk et al, 1998;Falk, 2006;Packer & Ballantyne, 2002;Schultz & Joordens, 2014).…”

“…While previous research has shown that conservation messages are an important component of a wildlife tourism experience , the effectiveness of conservation messages in interpretation has received little attention (Moscardo, 2014). More than half of the visitors in this study did not recall a single conservation message, a finding in common with previous research (Schultz & Joordens, 2014). This suggests that visitors may find it difficult to clearly articulate their conservation learning.…”

“…Research suggests that the reasons an individual visits a facility significantly impact on the learning that takes place during the visit (Falk & Dierking, 1992;Falk et al, 1998;Falk, 2006;Packer & Ballantyne, 2002;Packer, 2004;Schultz & Joordens, 2014). Of the wide variety of reasons given for a visit to an educational leisure setting, the following general categories have been identified: education (learning and discovery); entertainment; recreation; social interaction; life cycle (birthdays, etc.…”

Species at risk in Ontario: An examination of environmental non‐governmental organizations

“…While it is small compared to our knowledge of American landowners and their ESA , this literature does suggest that private stewardship is occurring but landowners are often unaware of policy and listed species. Other literature has examined the role of zoos, namely the Toronto Zoo, in the conservation of wildlife and species at risk (Schultz and Joordens ; Olive and Jansen ). Zoos act as research centres but also oversee captive breeding programs where species, such as the endangered Blanding turtle, are reintroduced into the wild.…”

An investigation of the impact of Melbourne Zoo's “Seal‐the‐Loop” donate call‐to‐action on visitor satisfaction and behavior

“…However, few studies have explored visitor perspectives regarding donation requests or their impact on visitor satisfaction or behavior, with some visitors perceiving donations as a way of being included in zoo conservation efforts, while others seem uncomfortable with being asked for money (Smith et al, , ). Furthermore, not all zoo visitors may recognize donation as a potential conservation action (Schultz & Joordens, ), resulting in no donations being given when such opportunities arise (Smith & Broad, ). Since financial support potentially increases the impact of zoo‐based conservation projects (Gusset & Dick, ), there is a critical need to investigate donation requests within the zoo context.…”