Education:Stories from the Field
Teaching teachers from New Zealand
Kiwis in San Diego!
Natalie and Glenice Paine and Richard Romijn, conservation educators from New Zealand, met with the San Diego Zoo's graphic designer as part of their training course.
One of the most effective ways the San Diego Zoo supports conservation is by sharing our resources of knowledge and experience with other conservation organizations. In fall 2004, three educators from New Zealand came to the Zoo to take part in a Conservation Education Workshop. Partially funded through a grant from the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the goal of the workshop was to improve the capability of New Zealand educators to develop and implement conservation education programs.
Two of the educators were from the Te Atiawa iwi (a Maori tribe). They used the training to help develop and implement the Tuatara Road Show, a traveling education program that teaches New Zealand schoolchildren about the ecology and conservation of endangered tuataras. The other participant, Richard Romijn, is a New Zealand science, mathematics, and technology teacher Fellow studying the ecology and conservation of New Zealand reptiles. He has assisted CRES Conservation Research Fellow Dr. Nicky Nelson with tuatara nesting ecology research, tuatara translocations, and tuatara surveys. His goal is to further develop the Victoria University of Wellington’s tuatara education outreach program.
The Conservation Education Workshop started with classroom time where the participants learned about the fundamentals of planning a conservation education program and how to evaluate program effectiveness. To put the skills into practice, the students visited the San Diego Natural History Museum, Chula Vista Nature Center, and SeaWorld San Diego to get first-hand experience with a variety of education activities. For the rest of the week the participants had sessions with Zoo and Wild Animal Park employees to learn about everything from kid’s art to animal presentations to interpretive signage and more. It was a very full week but the participants left excited about all they had learned and ready to put their new knowledge into conservation action back in New Zealand.
More
Helping Wildlife: Tuataras and Temperature
CRES: Implications of Global Warming for Tuatara Populations in New Zealand
