The Amateur Zoologist Club: Engaging Lifelong Learners
The Amateur Zoologist Club (AZC) was developed so that WMSP could offer an educational experience for mature, local learners who wished to develop a deeper understanding of biodiversity and conservation in the form of a short, non-accredited course. As part of the project development, contacts were made with the Wyre Forest U3A to help develop an educational service that would appeal to their members and would focus on community benefit as this aligned with the U3A’s focus on “learning not lonely”.
The club was run for groups of up to 12 members. Two clubs were run, with 12 and 6 participants respectively, in July and August of 2022. Learners attended four sessions across two weeks, with the rationale being for learners to develop relationships within the club.
A range of activities were delivered for members including interactive workshops, guided tours, role plays and animal handling sessions. A variety of taxa were presented to include birds, mammals, invertebrates and reptiles. Some newly created resources for the club included a “habitat fragmentation board game” where learners placed counters on a board to simulate and discuss the factors leading to habitat destruction using strategy and planning. The learners also undertook a zoo management role play where they were assigned roles to recapture an “escaped lemur” (education staff member in a lemur costume). A successful activity which staff felt worked well was creating “conservation bunting”, where after their session on conservation issues, each learner wrote a pledge of a small change that they personally could make to help protect biodiversity.
To evaluate the project, pre- and post-learning questionnaires were set for the learners. Open ended feedback was completed by 17 of the 18 participants, with 16/17 responses explicitly stating that staff knowledge, enthusiasm or engagement was an enjoyable factor of their experience. This shows meaningful and engaging delivery by the education team influenced customer experience and learning. The club managed to produce a cohort of learners who, by the end of the course, could discuss at least one way in which they personally could act to protect biodiversity and a way in which zoos/safari parks could act to protect biodiversity. All learners were able to participate in all activities set during the course. Praise for the successful balance of theory and practical activities was mentioned in five of the 17 feedback forms explicitly. Therefore, initial evaluation seems to show a community club setting does allow for effective learning regarding biodiversity and provides high levels of learner satisfaction. Mature learners are a motivated audience and value time with those of similar interests to themselves.
Feedback from those attending, and from our U3A contacts, has allowed for expansion of the AZC in 2023. The AZC now has a “new members” club and a “progressors” club, with six of the original 18 cohort returning for a second year. Staff have also worked to adapt current sessions to increase accessibility e.g. developing wheelchair accessible sessions to include those with limited mobility. Connections between the Wyre Forest U3A and WMSP have continued to be success, with outreach talks and WMSP’s participation in U3A events throughout Spring 2023 and engagement with the U3A’s Sustainability Group is scheduled for July 2023.
This project won Silver in the BIAZA Education Awards category in 2023.
