Educational Department

Nowadays zoological gardens are places where people can not only see animals from all over the world, but also learn live a true educational experience. The Educational Department of Parco Natura Viva is more and more focused on becoming a real center for environmental education on a local level, with the purpose of offering educational programs and meetings to schools in order to promote environmental knowledge and make students aware of issues related to nature preservation.

EDUZOO il gruppo di lavoro degli educatori dell’Unione Italiana Zoo ed Acquari (UIZA)	IZE Associazione Internazionale degli Educatori degli Zoo

The Educational Department fulfills some of the main institutional goals of a modern zoological park which is to:
• provide scientific information on the species housed,
• show the purposes of scientific research and conservation of biodiversity carried out by the Park,
• raise visitors’ awareness about the environmental problems of our planet and inspire them towards an eco-friendly lifestyle.
This program is directed towards both visiting groups (mostly schools - that can take advantage of additional services, such as study tours and activities in the classroom) and individuals.

AWARENESS AND ENTERTAINMENT ACTIVITIES FOR VISITORS

The Educational staff manage a lot of activities and meetings with the public.
• “Keeper for a Day”. Every Saturday afternoon members of the public can participate actively in the preparation of enrichments along with the Park educators in collaboration with the research department and the keepers.

• On holidays, animations and educational recreational activities were organized (creative labs, dino-lab, face-painting, etc.) for all the visiting public in order to highlight the environmental objectives of the Park. These activities took place on all the days with the greatest numbers of visitors, in other words, on Saturdays, public holidays, spring break and during the summer holidays.

• The initiative called “Public talk” consists of meetings at set times between a guide and members of the public to coincide with the giving of “environmental enrichments” to animal species housed at the Park. The characteristics of the animals, their natural state in the wild, the aims of the Park and its animal welfare activities are explained. A system of evaluation of this initiative has been in effect since 2011. A student of biology and park-guide held the “Talks” then gave out feedb
Per lo svolgimento di alcune attività educative ci avvaliamo della collaborazione delle esperte guide naturalistiche della Cooperativa Biosphaera

ITALIAN VERSION

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