Santa Barbara Zoo Field Trip

Zoos can be unique places of discovery and connection with the living and natural world, ignoring the questionable morality and faux habitats. I visited the Santa Barbara Zoo on a Tuesday morning with some of my fellow MAPS.

The exhibits or display at the Santa Barbara Zoo include endangered foreign and domestic animals. Most exhibits, if not all, included living animals. A sign was posted with each exhibit that included some information about the species and the animals on display. Each sign included a “what you can do” section to encourage people to do small things that help protect local wildlife related to the displayed species.  Depending on the exhibit the three green squares are different, they may include fun facts, reproduction, mating, conservation, habitat, or diet information. Some exhibits had QR codes that allowed quests to explore more information on the animal displayed. A unique exhibit that we attempted was the Gorilla Research Escape Room. This experience encouraged you to explore the “research outpost” to find clues and solve riddles to find the missing researcher. We were not successful in completing the quest, but enjoyed searching the outpost and working together.

My favorite exhibits included the crested porcupine and the Asian elephants. I enjoyed these exhibits not from facilitation but the actions of the animals. The crested porcupine was attempted to pull off a stem to eat and was having trouble doing so. After a few good tugs and some skidding around the porcupine gave up and ate some leaves on the ground.  The way that the elephant enclosure is designed allows for many guests to view the elephants. It is not very often that people get the opportunity to be that close to elephants.  We were lucky enough to see the elephants near the edges of the exhibit.

Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to interact with any staff of members of the education staff. We interacted with some visitor services staff and saw some keepers and the facility staff, but did not interact with them to better engage in the exhibits. Danielle paid to feed a couple giraffes.  This interaction with the exhibit was facilitated by a member of staff but seemed to include only the minimal instruction. This opportunity to interact with the tallest living land animals is amazing and I would encourage visitors to do it, but the learning done would be observational and experiential. One might learn about their tongue and how they eat.

From my visit to the Zoo the MOXI is very well staffed and has the opportunities for in-depth facilitation. The Zoo allows the exhibits to stand alone as testaments to the animals on display. The two spaces are very different and require different facilitation methods. At the MOXI we encourage people play throughout the space, but at the zoo they seem to have designated spaces like the Freenotes Harmony Park. The Zoo is a space for observational learning while the MOXI a space designed for the experiential learners.