Abstract
This chapter focuses on the rationale behind the zoo field trip and the components of a successful zoo field trip design. There are five stages of a zoo visit that may be used as a framework for organizing a zoo field trip: (1) orientation, (2) concentrated or focused looking, (3) leisure looking, (4) completion, and (5) consolidation. The concentrated or focused looking stage involves the students focusing on learning tasks or activities. This chapter intertwines focused looking stage with the six levels of learning in Bloom’s Taxonomy (Krathwohl, 2002) to define a Zoo Cognition Hierarchy. The Zoo Cognition Hierarchy may be used to analyze the activities teachers and zoos ask students to complete during a zoo visit. If the questions or worksheets do not address the interactions suggested by the Zoo Cognition Hierarchy, higher-order thinking most likely will not occur. Suggestions are given for field trip design, training chaperones, and developing useful field trip activities.
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Patrick, P.G., Tunnicliffe, S.D. (2013). Zoo Field Trip Design. In: Zoo Talk. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4863-7_11
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