Abstract

Although zoos have an increasingly important role to play in educating the public about conservation and inspiring pro-conservation behaviour, they are not firmly established as leaders of conservation education. A multitude of logistical challenges and methodological limitations in zoological education research are contributory factors to this. However, certain research weaknesses can be minimized by collecting data from more than one source. The current research evaluated children’s learning in a zoo and an aquarium using three different methodologies in one study: match pairs surveys, behavioural observation and conversational content analysis. The findings indicate that learning occurred in both the zoo and aquarium for most participants but was more profound for children who participated in an educational intervention. Importantly, the results of each methodology substantiate each other to definitively validate results and demonstrate the positive impact of a zoo or aquarium visit on children’s learning. To produce more meaningful, reliable and valid research, zoological education studies should integrate mixed-methods and data triangulation into future research.

摘要

尽管动物园在教育公众有关保护和鼓励保护行为方面发挥着越来越重要的作用，但它们并没有牢固地确立为保护教育的领导者。动物教育研究中的众多后勤挑战和方法限制是造成这种情况的因素。然而，通过从多个来源收集数据可以最大限度地减少某些研究弱点。目前的研究在一项研究中使用三种不同的方法评估儿童在动物园和水族馆的学习情况：配对调查、行为观察和对话内容分析。研究结果表明，对于大多数参与者来说，在动物园和水族馆都发生了学习，但对于参与教育干预的儿童来说，学习更为深刻。重要的，每种方法的结果相互证实，以最终验证结果并证明动物园或水族馆参观对儿童学习的积极影响。为了产生更有意义、可靠和有效的研究，动物学教育研究应该将混合方法和数据三角测量整合到未来的研究中。