Assessing the Impact of a Visit to a Zoo or Aquarium: A Multi-institutional Research Project

“评估参观动物园或水族馆的影响：一个多机构的研究项目”将创建一个功能分类的动物园/水族馆游客的进入知识，态度和行为。 这种分类法，结合游客在参观期间的具体体验数据，将使调查人员能够了解和预测动物园和水族馆对公众了解动物及其保护的贡献。 研究结果将阐明动物园和水族馆作为非正式学习中心的作用，并指出加强其教育影响的方法。AZA召集了一个全国咨询委员会，委托并完成了一项彻底的审查，确认迫切需要进行更多的研究，特别是试图提出广泛问题的研究，系统地收集数据，并包括足够数量和类型的机构，以便在整个社区推广。 12个不同规模、地理区域和类型的AZA机构将参与这项研究。 研究的最终结果将是动物园和水族馆游客学习经验的描述性模型，以及一套诊断工具的开发，以帮助动物园和水族馆工作人员了解和提高其公众影响的性质和程度。

"Assessing the Impact of a Visit to a Zoo or Aquarium: A Multi-institutional Research Project" will create a functional taxonomy of zoo/aquarium visitors' entering knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. This taxonomy, in conjunction with data about the specific experiences visitors have during their visit, will enable investigators to understand and predict the contribution of zoos and aquariums to the public understanding of animals and their conservation. The results will clarify the role of zoos and aquariums as centers of informal learning and point to ways to strengthen their educational impact.The AZA convened a national advisory committee that commissioned and completed a thorough review, confirming a critical need to conduct more research, particularly research that attempts to ask broad questions, collect data systematically, and includes sufficient number and types of institutions to permit community-wide generalizations. Twelve AZA institutions of various sizes, geographic regions and types will participate in the study. The net result of the study will be a descriptive model of zoo and aquarium visitor learning experiences and development of a set of diagnostic tools to help zoo and aquaria staff understand and enhance the nature and extent of their public impact.