Developing a Classroom Outreach Program

How does an outreach program that puts animals in classrooms, libraries, community centers, etc. fit with your mission?

The mission statement of the Lincoln Children's Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Lincoln, Nebraska is

to influence present and future generations through conservation, education, and related research as well as to encourage interaction with nature, plants, and animals in an enjoyable environment

We consider the Our Zoo to YOU program an integral part of our education objectives. The program meets the state and district science standards for the life sciences AND meets standards for language arts and character education.

Since 2000, the Lincoln Children's Zoo & Botanical Gardens has been providing animals to classrooms within a 50 mile radius of our zoo. We have had participants in preschool through high school and have found that taking care of a live animal brings a great deal more than science to the experience. Our evaluators have declared: "Students learned more than the care and habits of animals. They also learned responsibility, acceptance and understanding of differences, applying technology, willingness to work, and the value of cooperation."

During the first six years, a total of 65 classrooms participated in the program affecting directly 2,800 students and their families.

Will your governing Board, administration and other staff support the program

At Lincoln Children's Zoo the effort began in the spring of 2000, when the Zoo's Board of Directors indicated in the strategic master plan that the Zoo was "To promote and expand on excellence in educational programming -- measured by increased participation in programs by individuals, classrooms, and school districts; constant evaluation of program and material effectiveness by teachers and administrators; and the development and implementation of cooperative projects with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln."

At this time, the Zoo's education director met with the Lincoln Public Schools Science coordinator, the Nebraska State Science Curriculum Director, University of Nebraska College of Education and Human Sciences personnel, and several classroom teachers who were active in science education circles. Our Zoo to YOU is the result of the strategic master plan and these meetings.

What are the staffing issues?

Staffing must be dealt with at the outset. Will the education staff or animal department take responsibility for classroom visits, teacher questions, emergency calls, and animal delivery and pick-up? At our Zoo, the responsibility rests with the education department. The animal staff supports our efforts by answering health and behavior questions that are referred to them and by occasionally visiting a classroom as a special guest.

At our Zoo, we created a project coordinator job and hired one of the teachers who had participated in the program to implement it. She was one of our first participants and upon retirement from the public school system took over the program for us. She uses her own vehicle to transport animals and visit schools and we pay her the government established mileage. Having a project coordinator who has participated in the program in a classroom and who understands the demands and challenges of teaching is a real advantage.

How will animal health and safety be monitored?

Putting education animals into classrooms and only visiting them weekly is scary; after all they're your responsibility and "part of the Zoo family." We solved this dilemma by requiring the participating teachers to communicate with us daily via a website. Visit our website at http://dwbrr.unl.edu/zoo  - you won't be able to get to the reporting pages, but you can see the set-up.

You will be able to see how it's done and view some past animal records. Choose the 'example' or click here.

All participating teachers must have an e-mail address and an Internet connection. If there is an emergency, the teachers have the after hours zoo phone number and the cell phone number of the Zoo educator.

We also contact the veterinarians in the areas where our animals are and ask if they will handle any emergency on behalf of the Zoo. We take full responsibility for any charges. We list local veterinarian names and phone numbers for the teacher when animals are placed in an area outside of the Zoo's city limits.

What about liability?

Insurance is always a concern and should be dealt with up front. Contact your insurance agent and make sure your liability coverage includes transporting your animals off-site and off-site injury to animals and people and damage to property.

How will the program be funded?

Before beginning this program it is helpful to visit with an official from your local school district – the science curriculum coordinator, asst. superintendent in charge of instruction, or special projects coordinator. Discuss collaborating to create the opportunity to allow zoo animals to go into district classrooms to provide hands-on inquiry science teaching experiences. A partnership is much more likely to be funded than a single entity project.

The program at the Lincoln Children's Zoo is entirely grant supported. The benefits are many and "proof" of support and accomplishment is strong. We will be glad to share our grant research if you are interested. E-mail mwickless@lincolnzoo.org.

At the Lincoln Children's Zoo, the program has been funded by grants from the Nebraska Post Secondary Education Coordinating Commission. Aligned with state standards and providing training and opportunity to integrate instruction, this program is highly regarded by the Commission as a teacher enhancement program. We have also received an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to support the empirical research involved with this program.

We also have received funding from local businesses to sponsor an animal in a specific classroom -- we receive $1,000 per year per classroom for this privilege -- if the classroom is within the city limits.

We have no experience with charging the schools a participation fee.

A sample budget for 24 classrooms with animals rotated every 6 weeks follows. Our participating classrooms are within 50 miles of the Zoo – with a maximum of 100 miles round trip. Our mileage reflects all this traveling.

Sample Budget for 24 classes

 A month of administrative wages are requested for the Project Director who oversees the project, plans and conducts the workshops, keeps records of expenditures and complies with all grant requests and reporting.

Instructional wages are for a zoo educator who visits participating classrooms two times a month throughout the school year. This is not a 40 hour a week job, the hours must be flexible to accommodate school schedules. Some weeks are busier than others, summers are free except for 5 contract days getting ready for next year and participating in the training workshop.

Recruitment flyers were designed, printed and distributed to schools – 300 were printed – 24 participants were desired. Communication with participating teachers was primarily through e-mail, snail mail, fax, and phone calls.

Travel costs reflect the Zoo staff member visiting classrooms two times a month (an average of forty visits a month) for thirty-three weeks. Classrooms were as far away as a round trip of one hundred miles.  It was estimated that the project coordinator would average 30 miles a day over the school year. An additional 600 miles was added for unscheduled deliveries of goods and animal emergencies.

The zoo assumed most of the cost of animals, cages, enrichment items and medical care. The grant was asked to buy consumables like animal litter, cleaning supplies, and food. Teachers will have students clean cages every dayÉ so litter, baggies, cleaning supplies will exceed your usual estimates AND we had several cages that were broken, water bottles damaged, food bowls dropped, etc. and replacements were charged to Our Zoo to YOU.

A professional evaluator was hired to assess student and teacher growth. This was a requirement of the grant.

A website was created and maintained to support this program, the teachers were taught how to use the internet, e-mail, and the reporting system. A server provider and webmaster were hired.

Animal specialists from the Zoo taught the teachers how to handle and care for the animals.

Inquiry specialists from the University and local school system explained the process and taught the teachers how to design and implement inquiries in the classroom.

The Zoo paid stipends of $100 to the teachers due to attending the workshop on a weekend.

Balance scales were purchased fore each classroom to weigh food and the animal two times a week. We established a crate library for each animal as it rotated through the system. Each teacher received pens or tubs, exercise balls, resource books, and perches for animals so they could be "free" in the classroom.

Teachers who traveled to the Zoo workshops from out-or-town were paid mileage.

Food and supplies for inquiry activities were the only workshop expenses.

How are animals selected to participate?
How do you decide which animal to send where?

We have 30 animals that are the responsibility of the education department including: ferrets, rats, rabbits, hedgehogs, tenrecs, guinea pigs, blue tongued skinks, leopard geckos, fat-tailed geckos, ball pythons, kingsnakes, hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, African brown millipedes, and ring-neck doves. These are the animals that go into classrooms. They are accustomed to being handled, they are tolerant of activity, and they enjoy company. Animals are retired when their health or their attitude begins to fail.

The rabbits and ferrets -- the ones that might roam freely in a classroom -- are litter trained.

Informing Parents; Permissions

Before an animal is sent to a classroom the teacher sends a notice home and asks about allergies. If a child is allergic to fur – no mammal can go into that classroom. Knowing this immediately in the fall allows the teacher to choose continue with the program and have only birds, arthropods, and reptiles or he/she can choose to participate another year.

We send reptiles out to the classrooms and insist that the teacher follow strict handling and hand washing guidelines. We do not send turtles or amphibians.

We allow teachers from kindergarten through high school to participate in the program – and assign animals accordingly. We do not send reptiles to kindergartens.

We transport animals in our personal vehicles, paying mileage to whomever drives. When we have large aquariums (like the blue tongued skink) we use the zoo van. We do take the animals in their "homes" not in traveling cages.

Our animals are allowed to go home with students over the weekend IF the teacher feels s/he can trust the family to take care of the animal and there are no other pets at home. We have weekend kits made for each animal with a "how to care for me" video, weekend emergency instructions, specific food and activity suggestions, and a list of preferred activities to do together. All animals are back at the Zoo for holidays and extended vacation periods. This removes the responsibility from the teachers and allows the zoo to do wellness checks and evaluate animal behavior.

How do you recruit teacher-participants?

Teachers are recruited through the distribution of a flyer/application by district science curriculum coordinators, educational service units, and word of mouth. It is important that the teachers know the program is aligned with district curriculum goals and benchmarks and has administrative support.

We allow teachers to repeat participation for a maximum of two years, and we accept any grade level. The Lincoln Public Schools only allow first and seventh grade classrooms to participate because of science benchmarks and guidelines. Other districts, however, allow all grades to participate.

Teachers are required to secure principal permission before applying -- a principal's signature is part of the application. Depending on the needs of the grant, teachers are either randomly selected or selected on a first-come, first-served basis.

How do you train teacher-participants?

After acceptance, teachers are given a copy of the program narrative and the history of the effort is explained to them. They are required to commit to attending two workshops, a pre-animal in the classroom workshop and a mid-term evaluation one. During the first workshop, three goals are met: 

1. Teachers learn how to care for the animals that may reside in his/her classroom. Participants practice on one representative animal from each class (mammals, reptiles, birds, arthropods) until he/she is adept at and comfortable with handling and caring for it.

2. Participants conduct an inquiry based science lesson and are introduced to and/or reminded how to set up a science inquiry. Also at this time, several of our past participants and the Lincoln Public Schools Science Consultant share lesson plans that meet standards and utilize animals in inquiry based science lessons.

3. Participants demonstrate efficiency in using the website to enter and retrieve data. The website is used to track animal health statistics, behavioral observations, and student investigations. It is the mechanism that provides consistency for the animals and essential information about their care and handling for Zoo staff. After a couple of years we started giving "internet refresher" courses at this time, too, because many of the teachers were not comfortable with the internet and web reporting.

At the second workshop in January, teachers and Zoo staff evaluate the program and make necessary adjustments to further meet program objectives. The website is evaluated and changed according to recommendations and teachers share successful classroom inquiries with their peers.

Twice a month the Zoo educator visits the classroom and supports the teacher in any way needed. At this time supplies are delivered, the animal is given a quick wellness check, and the class's inquiries are discussed.

What are the outcomes of Our Zoo to YOU?

Our Zoo to YOU provides the resources for investigations that require students to observe the characteristics of animals, how they respond to their environments, how behavior is adapted to best suit the needs of the animal, and what special characteristics are present in each class of animal. These investigations target the requirements for the National Science Standards for the life sciences, specifically "characteristics of organisms, organisms and environments, regulation and behavior, diversity and adaptations, interdependence of organisms, and structure and function in living things." [1]

Over four years Our Zoo to YOU was introduced to 65 classrooms. Evaluations show that having live animals in the classroom is a very successful way to teach the scientific method used in inquiry science:

• 30% (of participating teachers) indicated that 100% of the class mastered the inquiry method
• 45% said at least 75% of their class had mastered the inquiry based approach
• 21% thought at least 50% of their class had mastered the inquiry based approach
• 2% felt that less than half of the class had mastered the approach.[2]

Research suggests that animals and inquiry based science are a potent combination: "Observation and experimentation with living organisms give students unique perspectives of life processes that are not provided by other modes of instruction. Studying animals in the classroom enables students to develop skills of observation and comparison, a sense of stewardship, and an appreciation for the unity, interrelationships, and complexity of life."[3]

 "Most learning about animals in school appears to be so divorced from direct experience with animals and the natural environment that little basic knowledge results. [4] Experiences in the Our Zoo to YOU program provide opportunities for up close observation and direct experience with live animals in a safe environment with teachers trained to use animals to teach inquiry science.

The participating teachers came from a variety of classroom settings, ranging from first grade through high school. Schools ranged from a small, one-room school to buildings located in community of 225,000 population. Teachers had a wide range of experiences and training. Some had prior experience with animals in the classroom and others had none. A common characteristic among the participants was their interest in the project and willingness to participate. In light of the diversity with respect to training and experience, the figures in the table above suggest that the level of information provided to teachers by Zoo personnel was adequate.

The proportion of students who shared information with other schools was closely tied to the age of the students in project classrooms. Primary students were seen by the majority of their teachers to be less ready to communicate with other students through e-mail.

Teacher comments:

• By handling the animals, children were able to notice details like barbs on tips of legs, hair on antennae, ear holes, eye placement – this was so up close and personal.
• Students were in-tune with the animals and observed the slightest changes.
• They were able to look back at their investigations and say what could have worked better or what went wrong.
• If I forgot to change the "zookeeper" first thing in the morning I was reminded instantly. Everyone wants a chance.
• Students are able to use details to explain possible behaviors. Objective observations are always tried for and often met.
• I often heard the students talk about the animal being "comfortable," "scared," not hungry," or "not interested" as they cared for and handled the animal.
• The students are now able to generate a question, discuss what their hypothesis is, what methods they will use to see results, what the exact results are, and explain how their conclusion is based on results.
• On the end of year test 2/3 of my students listed this program as the lessons that stand out most to them.
• Students were able to transfer information from one animal to another.
• "It was evident that the animals were not pushed into a corner and forgotten! Although in many cases, the novelty had worn off, the students were still very much involved with the animals. They loved handling them, were very enthusiastic about feeding them, and readily aided in any clean-up that needed to be done." – Dr. Sybouts
• " It was evident that the objective to gather data about the animals' needs, health, and habitat and apply what was learned had been successfully met. One teacher remarked that her students knew much more about animal needs than most first graders. One teacher noted that her students were much better at asking questions about animal behavior, needs, health, etc." - Dr. Sybouts

In half of the classrooms there was daily documentation on the web page regarding the health and behavior of the animal in the classroom. It was noted that the frequency increased as the year progressed. Comments from teachers included:

• they had problems with their computers and/or internet connection
• only teachers typed reports because the kids were too young to do it
• in 2 of the 6 classes reporting no website documentation there were no computer connections available

There were obvious differences in classrooms with respect to teacher expertise and computer comfort. Age and/or grade level (ranging from pre-school to high school) made a significant difference also. Several of the first grade teachers recruited typing help from sixth graders and LOVED the interaction between the older and younger students and sincerely appreciated the help with data entry.

Even with an entire session devoted to this technology, it still didn't work ideally. In 05-06 we have added an internet usage workshop for teachers and hired a consultant that will help teachers access the website in their classrooms and set the computers to the Our Zoo to YOU homepage.

Half the teachers felt the website, after some experience, was easy to use and posed minimal problems. The other half consistently had difficulties with getting information and reporting information. Several first grade teachers, when classroom visits were made, expressed the opinion that using the website for the majority of first-graders was difficult because the students didn't have computer skills yet others asked older students to help and thought this was a wonderful opportunity for both.

The Inquiry Approach

A key reason for beginning Our Zoo to YOU was to introduce students to science through "Inquiry" approaches. Program evaluations, therefore, sought to learn as much as possible about this program dimension.

The project teachers perceived that the vast majority of their students learned to use the inquiry method. In light of the fact that there were so many first grade classrooms, this would seem a very positive and overwhelming result.

When project teachers were asked if they felt the inquiry approach as used in this project worked sufficiently well so that it could be applied in other learning projects, 90% responded affirmatively.

From these results it can be concluded that the majority of teachers will continue to use the inquiry approach in other projects.

Project teachers were obviously receptive to the idea of having live animals in their classrooms; otherwise they would not have requested to be part of the Zoo project. The project teachers were asked if having live animals in the room was a good influence and positive motivator for students – all who responded indicated that this was true.

Many life science concepts using inquiry-based activities had been applied in the classrooms. Some of the lessons used to aid in life science concepts included the integration of math (and weight and measurement) when feeding the animals; physical science - experiments with heat or light; animal preferences for food; experiments with smooth and rough surfaces; and writing projects. -- Dr. Sybouts

One set of survey questions did not have the third page, hence the lack of responses here

Classroom observations verified the enthusiastic support that was found for this project. Dr. Sybouts wrote: "If one word were to be used to describe the way the students responded to the animals, it would be 'enthusiastically.' Even after the year was nearing the end and the initial excitement had subsided, the students remained very enthusiastic and highly involved.

Many teachers emphasized that animals had been very helpful when working with students with behavior problems. In one classroom the teacher remarked on the interaction between an autistic student and the animal. Several teachers noted how carefully students handled animals -- even those who were normally rough.

All students in the classrooms exhibited a great deal of enthusiasm. They were excited to tell about investigations and what they discovered. With very few exceptions, the students loved handling the various animals and had become attached to them."

Participants opinions about using live animals to teach life science concepts WITH the inquiry approach  (N=39)
I am solid on it and will continue to use this approach in the future	31	79%
It is a viable approach, but I will require some support if I have animals in my room	8	21
The approach has limited benefits and inherent problems and limitations	0	0

Additional comments from Dr. Sybouts:

• In all classrooms visited, the teachers commented that they would love to participate again and would definitely recommend the experience to their peers. The teachers felt the program had been very successful.
• Several teachers capitalized on the opportunities they were afforded in the zoo project to integrate curriculum. It was common, as reflected in some of the comments to integrate language arts, math, and science. Teachers also capitalized on the motivational factor they found in the Zoo project. As the year progressed, learning how to state hypotheses and to apply the scientific method made it  possible to observe an accumulation of knowledge. Sharing knowledge was also present and in some cases the project extended well beyond the designated classroom.
• Teachers demonstrated care in selecting students to take animals home on weekends. Permission was obtained prior to any weekend visit and the home environment was carefully considered by teachers. Students vied for the opportunity to take animals home for the weekend as they were enthusiastic about the possibility. Results of weekend visits were positive.
• Students learned about appreciating each other and each animal and about teaching each other and helping peers.
• They experienced the benefits of being well planned and organized in order to take good care of their animal, and they learned about responsibility.
• The Zoo to YOU project had an influence that extended beyond the immediate classrooms involved. Parents became interested observers. In some cases the knowledge possessed by parents regarding an animal assigned to the classroom afforded the parent the opportunity to be a resource person. In other cases, students developed web pages about the animal and shared information that way.
• Having animals in the classroom was a positive influence on students who were inclined to be involved in behavior problems. Various teachers also noted the positive effects animals in the classroom had on students with disabilities. There is room for further study here."

[1] National Science Education Standards, National Academy Press, 1996

[2] Sybouts, Ward "An Evaluation of Our Zoo to YOU "

[3] National Science Teachers Association – Guidelines for Responsible Use of Animals in the Classroom, Position policy, 1991.

[4] Kellert, Stephen R. "Attitudes Toward Animals: Age-Related Development Among Children", Journal of Environmental Education, v. 16 #3, Spring, 1985.