TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kleespies, Matthias
A1  - Gübert, Jennifer
A1  - Popp, Alexander
A1  - Hartmann, Nicola
A1  - Dietz, Christian
A1  - Spengler, Tanja
A1  - Becker, Martin
A1  - Dierkes, Paul Wilhelm
T1  - Connecting high school students with nature – how different guided tours in the zoo influence the success of extracurricular educational programs
T2  - Frontiers in psychology
N2  - Zoos attract millions of visitors every year, many of whom are schoolchildren. For this reason, zoos are important institutions for the environmental education of future generations. Empirical studies on the educational impact of environmental education programs in zoos are still rare. To address this issue, we conducted two studies: In study 1, we investigated students’ interests in different biological topics, including zoos (n = 1,587). Data analysis of individual topics revealed large differences of interest, with advanced students showing less interest in zoos. In study 2, we invited school classes of this age group to visit different guided tours at the zoo and tested connection to nature before and after each educational intervention (n = 608). The results showed that the guided tours are an effective tool to raise students’ connection to nature. Add-on components have the potential to further promote connection to nature. The education programs are most effective with students with a low initial nature connection.
KW  - connection to nature
KW  - zoo education
KW  - environmental education
KW  - INS
KW  - interest in animals
Y1  - 2020
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/55220
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-552202
SN  - 1664-1078
N1  - Copyright © 2020 Kleespies, Gübert, Popp, Hartmann, Dietz, Spengler, Becker and Dierkes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
VL  - 11
IS  - 1804
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -