Conservation Education Initiatives in China
Zoo Atlanta is committed to saving the giant panda. The Zoo’s Panda Conservation Fund supports biological monitoring, field patrols and infrastructure in thee critical giant panda reserves in China’s Sichuan Province. In 1999, through partnership with the Chengdu Research Base and Chengdu Zoo, Zoo Atlanta received a pair of giant pandas, Yang Yang and Lun Lun on a 10-year research and breeding loan from the Chengdu Research Base. Together, our organizations are now recognized leaders in giant panda research on breeding, social and maternal behavior, and the Zoo actively works with partners in China to advance husbandry and veterinary practices.
Zoo Atlanta is also leading the effort to bring conservation education to zoos in China. With the support and guidance of our partners in Chengdu, the Zoo helped establish the first education departments at the Chengdu Zoo and Chengdu Research Base, leading to the hiring and training of some of the first professional zoo educators ever appointed in China and the collaborative creation of several conservation education programs at both facilities.
In response, the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens (CAZG) expressly asked Zoo Atlanta to replicate these successes through a professional training program designed to bring conservation education to all 218 accredited zoos in China. Thus, Zoo Atlanta created an ambitious six-year master plan to develop and implement the Academy for Conservation Training (ACT).
Academy for Conservation Training: The Future of Zoo Education in China
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Funded by The UPS Foundation, the award-winning ACT program is the preeminent conservation education training for Chinese zoo professionals. Curriculum was based on four years of field testing and education system investigations with Chinese children and families, with the goal of addressing the knowledge and experiences these audiences needed to make meaningful connections with animals and the environment.
ACT developers also worked with administrators and instructors from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) professional conservation education course, which has shaped the U.S. zoological industry since 1997. Before the development of ACT in 2006, no such training existed for Chinese zoo educators.
The goal of ACT is to work with CAZG to create and support a professional network of educators with the skills, knowledge and tools needed to design and maintain effective conservation education programs at their facilities.
ACT’s main objectives are to:
- Create and implement a culturally-relevant, cost-effective and self-sustaining conservation education training academy and model programs utilizing best practices developed by U.S. zoos;
- Establish a network of professionally trained conservation educators who will eventually take ownership of content and training;
- Gain the support and collaboration of zoo directors to work toward this initiative;
- Fully transfer ACT management to CAZG.
The core component of ACT is a five-day education primer covering best practices in zoo education, including program design and implementation, evaluation methods, conservation messages and interpretive techniques. ACT also includes a practical component consisting of training on a particular educational strategy (model program) and implementing that strategy with an audience. Opportunities for hands-on practice and confidence in running programs on zoo grounds are critical to the participants’ abilities to replicate or adapt these programs at their respective institutions.
Program Impact
Since the launch of ACT in 2006, the program has graduated 201 professionals from 26 of the 34 regions in China. Graduates represent 45 zoos and wildlife parks, which collectively reach over 40 million annual visitors.
Based on results from a longitudinal study conducted with program graduates in 2008, ACT provides the skills, knowledge and tools needed for designing, implementing and evaluating effective conservation education programs. The program is progressing appropriately with the transfer of instruction from the western ACT team to experienced Chinese trainers. As a result, the ACT team is providing these Chinese trainers with additional education background information, teaching techniques and theories to prepare them to teach all of the education primer content during the June 2009 session in Harbin. ACT also has the potential to make an impact on the establishment of the conservation education profession in CAZG-accredited zoos in China, and program graduates are beginning to establish a professional network supporting this emerging profession. Learn more about the first ACT session and access the evaluation report (PDF).
