Riddle for today - World Theatre Day: What do puppets, education, zoos and stage shows have in common?
World Theatre Day has been celebrated since 1962 aiming to
impart a love and appreciation of all that theatre productions can bring to
audiences, communities and of course the performers. It is a day for those who can see the value
and importance of the art form “theatre” and a chance to remind others of the
value of theatre, culturally and economically. And might just help educate
visitors to zoos, it appears that visitors to zoos learn more and remember more
detail when they watch a stage show.
Research by the University of York published last month showed a 22 per
cent increase in the accuracy of knowledge relating to animals and their
conservation in children and an 18 per cent increase in adults when they had
watched a stage show with performers and meercat puppets. More traditional zoo education schemes are
effective as well and research has shown a significant increase in knowledge in
school children after taking part in an education session but as the ethics of
real animal shows are rightly being questioned educators need a new effective
way to convey vital conservation messages and share knowledge of the animals. Perhaps puppets and stage shows might be the
answer. Most visitors to zoos are not
looking to spend time in the classroom but are looking to be entertained on
their day out and if a fun stage show is part of that day zoos and
conservationists can sneak in some education without the visitors
realising! Whilst this is only one study
of a single site and the authors recognise this limitation it gives pause for
thought and suggests a possible way forward, not just for zoos but maybe for
all countryside sites.
And access the published paper here: Sarah Louise Spooner,
Eric Allen Jensen, Louise Tracey & Andrew Robert Marshall (2019) Evaluating
the impacts of theatre-based wildlife and conservation education at the zoo,
Environmental Education Research, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2019.1569201