Zoos for Effective Science Teaching: A Training Program forMiddle and Secondary Level Science Teachers, Phase II

1986年9月，在美国国家科学基金会的资助下，纽约动物学会为来自纽约、新泽西和康涅狄格的30名杰出的中学科学教师发起了一个项目。该项目名为“有效科学动物园”（Z.E.S.T.）。目前的建议是将该方案再延长两年。从1987年1月到3月，在8个星期六举行6个小时的会议，包括幕后参观，动物观察和数据收集活动，动物园工作人员的视听节目和介绍，动物行为，动物园动物的合作繁殖和人口管理，以及教室动物的照顾。部分内容是关于如何设计创新材料，将课堂课程与动物园的使用联系起来，以及如何协助参与者进行同伴培训技术。通过角色扮演练习，增强教师对同伴培训的信心。参与者将获得各种印刷材料，包括WIZE（通过动物园教育探究野生动物）课堂工具包：生活方式的多样性和生存策略。WIZE在科学教育方面获得了多项著名奖项，是布朗克斯动物园在国家科学基金会的主要资助下开发的6至12年级的生命科学课程。每个参与者将选择一个与他或她的科学学科特别相关的主题，并就该主题开发一个教学单元。最好的教学单元将被纳入ze.s.t.教师手册，该手册将提供给三州地区的科学教师，与布朗克斯动物园的课堂参观一起使用。教师选择关注的主题和他们在ze.s.t.培训中获得的材料也可以作为教师在自己学校进行同伴培训的基础。在ze.s.t.项目之前，参与学校的管理人员会在动物园参加一个会议，对项目进行概述。他们还强调了对教师的支持，特别是对教师培训同伴的支持的重要性。这个项目有许多特点，证明它是一个教师提升项目。以下是更重要的：1)它拓宽了人们对动物园具有教育意义的看法；2)结合课堂教学，利用动物展览展示技术和材料；3)开发一个供全国动物园使用的模型。

In September, 1986 the New York Zoological Society, funded by NSF, initiated a program for 30 outstanding middle and secondary school science teachers from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The program was entitled "Zoos for Effective Science" (Z.E.S.T.). The present proposal is a continuation of the program for two additional years. Six hour sessions, held on 8 Saturdays, January through March 1987, involve behind-the-scenes touring, animal observation and data-gathering activities, audio/visual programs and presentations by zoo staff on animal behavior, cooperative breeding and demographic management for zoo animals, and care of classroom animals. Segments are conducted on how to design innovative materials linking classroom curriculum with use of the Zoo and on assisting participants with peer-training techniques. Role-playing exercises are used to enhance the confidence of the teachers in peer training. Participants receive a wide range of printed materials including WIZE (Wildlife Inquiry through Zoo Education) classroom kits: Diversity of Lifestyles and Survival Strategies. WIZE, the winner of several prestigious awards for excellence in science education, is a life science curriculum for grades 6 through 12 developed by the Bronx Zoo with major funding from the National Science Foundation. Each participant will select a subject of special relevance to his or her science discipline and develops an instructional unit on the topic. The best of the instructional units will be reviewed for inclusion in a Z.E.S.T. Teachers Manual, which will be made available to science teachers in the tri-state area for use in conjunction with class visits to the Bronx Zoo. The topics teachers chose to concentrate on and the materials they received in their Z.E.S.T. training also serve as the basis for peer training the teachers are expected to conduct in their own schools. Prior to the Z.E.S.T. program, administrators from the participants' schools attend a conference at the Zoo for an overview of the project. The importance of their support to the teachers, particularly in their efforts to train their peers, is also stressed. This project has a number of features which justify its funding as a Teacher Enhancement Project. The following are the more significant: 1) it broadens the perceptions about zoos being educational; 2) it presents techniques and materials using animal exhibitions in conjunction with classroom instruction; and 3) develops a model for use by zoos throughout the country.