Conservation Education Curriculum
Innovative Approach to Biodiversity
Robert can follow the footsteps of Sarah Bexell, who created a conservation education curriculum as part of her dissertation work (Bexell, 2005; Bexell, Jarrett & Ping, 2013). This initiative of hers received considerable success as it fostered greater empathy and offered a different perspective towards animals in the Chinese society which was generalisable to other animals.
- Case in point: The conservation education curriculum was created for Atlanta Zoo and Giant Panda Breeding Research base in Chengdu, China where people have the opportunity to interact with animals which includes detailed observation of individual animal, discussions with scientist and exposure to selected conservation issues that induce self-efficacy.
Robert can build on this initiative by developing a similar conservation education curriculum but with the Australia Zoo in mind and Australians as his target audience. The program could aim to mimic the success of Sarah Bexell’s curriculum by enhancing the empathy of Australians and providing them a different perspective towards animals. A successful change in perspective would be to enable others to view animals in a more positive light and eliminate the fear people have towards wildlife. This fear people have towards animals was mentioned previously in the second page of the ‘Television Programs’ section of the blog. With Robert assuming the role of the facilitator and the extensive network he has already established, he could find himself having a greater success than the pioneer conservation education curriculum.