Children, Families, and Nature in the 21st Century: A Multidisciplinary Approach

 

Mr. Dave Becker

Brookfield Zoo, United States

 

As children increasingly are raised in urbanizing environments, the zoo, aquarium, and museum community has an increasingly important role in the nature experiences of childhood.

In 2001, the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS) opened the Hamill Family Play Zoo, a unique children’s zoological garden that is influenced by a wide range of sources including children’s gardens and museums, European playwork, early childhood education, and the emerging field of conservation psychology. The Family Play Zoo includes a variety of indoor and outdoor settings in which young children can garden, play in the woods, build forts, make mud pies, look for bugs, meet animals up-close, pretend to be animal, and help care for animals in ways that are meaningful and relevant. In addition to the exhibit, CZS has assembled a multidisciplinary team of educators with backgrounds in the arts, sciences, early childhood education, and informal learning to provide daily programs to children and families. Most recently, CZS has been providing professional development training in these methods for other zoos, aquariums, nature centers, and museums.
David Becker, CZS Senior Manager of Learning Experiences, will describe the ways in which theory and practice from a variety of disciplines has been integrated in both exhibit and program design of the Family Play Zoo and in the Chicago Zoological Society’s early childhood initiative.

 

Biographical information

 Dave Becker is Senior Manager for the Chicago Zoological Society’s groundbreaking early childhood initiative. Dave and his education team were recently recognized by the White House in Washington, DC for innovative work and leadership in developing and promoting play-based, hands-on nature programming in zoos, aquariums, nature centers, and other informal learning organizations.