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| Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #574 |
| Paws-On: The Animal Study Zone: Improvements to address Accessibility and Developmental Issues |
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| Requester: |
D. Keith Winsten, Executive Di |
Organization: |
Brevard Zoo, East Zoological Society of Florida on behalf of the Board of the Directors |
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| Project Title: |
Paws-On: The Animal Study Zone: Improvements to address Accessibility and Developmental Issues |
Date Submitted |
1/13/2005 5:03:25 PM |
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| Sponsors: |
Posey |
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| Statewide Interest: |
| Paws-On will better serve both formal (school) and informal (general visitor) audiences from Brevard and other Florida counties. Based on extrapolations of the 2000 census, in 2003 Brevard was home to 505,711 people with 22% of the population under 18 years of age. The other counties within an hour's drive of the zoo, Orange, Oceola, Volusia, Seminole, Indian River and St. Lucia are estimated to have a 2003 combined population of 2,359,682 (13.8% of the 2003 Florida population). The percentage of residents under 18 years of age in these counties vary from 19.2% to 26.8%. When you consider that this project serves both children and their caregivers, it has the potential to reach 13.8% of the Florida population.
The project will address three documented needs of children ages birth - 10 years of age
- increased fitness through physical activities;
- increased understanding of biological and earth science through inquiry-based learning;
- increased appreciation of the natural world and Florida habitats through hands-on play. |
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| Recipient: |
Brevard Zoo |
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Contact: |
D. Keith Winsten |
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8225 North Wickham Road |
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Contact Phone: |
(321) 254-9453 |
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Melbourne, 32940 |
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Contact email: |
kwinsten@brevardzoo.org |
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| Counties: |
Brevard |
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| Gov't Entity: |
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Private Organization (Profit/Not for Profit): |
Yes |
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| Project Description: |
| Summary:
Paws-On: The Animal Study Zone, a highly visited section of Brevard Zoo, needs to be updated to address issues relating to accessibility, pedagogy and maintenance. An improved Paws-On will address three documented needs of children ages birth - 10 years of age:
- increased fitness through physical activities;
- increased understanding of biological and earth science through inquiry-based learning; and
- increased appreciation of the natural world and Florida habitats through hands-on play.
Project Description:
Paws-On: The Animal Study Zone was one of the original sections of the Brevard Zoo. It was constructed as part of a massive community build in 1994. Educational content in this exhibit covered a range of topics including geologic history and endangered species. The layout offered multiple sites for exploration and discovery and a contact yard where guests had hands-on experiences with farmyard animals. The exhibit immediately proved to be amongst the most popular in the zoo. According to a 2001 visitor study, 100% of members and 98% of non-members reported spending time in this area. Over 65% of visitors reported that their group spent the majority of their time in Paws-On with the adults and children exploring together. Satisfaction with their Paws-On experience was high with nearly 90% of all respondents reporting they would visit the area again and nearly 98% of all respondents reporting that hey would recommend Paws-On to a friend.
The Need:
Despite the success and popularity of the exhibit, Paws-On is badly in need of improvements. The 2004 hurricane season greatly accelerated the deterioration of many of the exhibit elements including shade netting, boardwalks, climbing structures and interactives. There are also flaws in the original design that need to be addressed. Some of the flaws identified by visitors in the 2001 study include poor accessibility for people with disabilities, interactives that could not be kept in working order and insufficient space in the contact yard. Additional interviews with zoo visitors done post-hurricanes in 2004 revealed additional challenges in terms of offering activities that addressed multiple learning styles and providing for the comfort and "peace of mind" of caregivers.
At the same time, the need for safe, outdoor environments where children and adults can experience nature together has never been greater. Many factors have contributed to the fact that children spend less time outside in natural settings engaging in physical activities. These factors include the rising number of families in which both parents work, greater structuring of children's lives, more reliance on air-conditioned environments, the rising popularity of electronic media and fear that outside environments are unsafe. The results can be very significant in terms of children's physical conditioning and their attachment and familiarity with nature. Unfortunately, there are a limited number of facilities that offer families introductory experiences to nature.
The Opportunity:
Paws-On provides an opportunity to model for children and their caregivers the benefits of playing and learning in nature. The fact that the zoo serves large numbers of families from diverse backgrounds makes it ideally suited to reach a broad spectrum of the community. The zoo also serves three Title I schools on a daily basis through the Zoo School and after-school programs. The recent completion of the shell for a new "Discovery Center" adjacent to Paws-On and the deterioration of the current exhibit makes this the ideal time to make systemic capital improvements based on the latest thinking in child development. Brevard Zoo will match, on a 1 to 1 basis, the state's investment in ensuring that Paws-On continues to meet the needs of its audience.
The Plan:
After the hurricanes, a team representing different sectors of the zoo was established to fast-track the renovation of Paws-on. The team conducted audience research to assess how the exhibit functioned post-hurricane and to determine the needs of our visitors. As
a result of this research, the in-house team established project criteria and an initial list of exhibit elements. An enlarged team, including community representatives, will further refine the exhibit element list from January - April, prototyping exhibit ideas on site, and adding new elements as needed. After the final exhibit elements have been selected, a final master plan will be completed in May. Final exhibit element design will be completed by October 1.
Paws-On: Results from the Post-Hurricane Assessment
Process Goals
To redesign the exhibit so that
- it better reflects the developmental and accessibility needs of children and the nature of creative play;
- it provides a relaxing, rewarding experience for caregivers; and
- it meets specific cognitive, affective and experiential objectives relating to children and nature.
Givens:
1. The scope of the project will include both a redesign of Paws-On and the design of the Discovery Center.
2. Paws-on will basically remain in the same location. The overall footprint will shift slightly towards the parking lot to both respond to parents' need for a more compact location and to allow for the future construction of a new, unrelated facility adjacent to it.
3. The new layout will allows guests to visit the new Discovery Center when it is completed
4. The new design will improve accessibility.
5. The new design will expand the contact yard.
6. The design process will follow the Brevard Zoo tradition of community input and participation.
7. The new design will facilitate changing programming throughout the year.
8. The new design will support community participation through the summer by including "cooling" zones.
Target Audience: Children 2 - 10 years of age and their caregivers
Overall Exhibit Goal:
The outdoor area (Paws-on) will provide our target audience with opportunities to empathize with animals by exploring how they move. It will feature kinesthetic, exploratory and dramatic play opportunities and will be focused on pre-k and kindergarten age children.
The indoor area (Discovery Center) will provide our target audience with opportunities to experience the changing of nature of our local habitats. It will features many activities that compare Florida's animal today with those of the past and future and will be
focused on school age children.
Proposed Exhibit Elements:
The renovated Paws-On and Discovery Center will feature
a play stream, a marine touch tank funded by the Space Coast Sportsman Association, a play fishing area, climbing boulders funded by the Brevard County School Department, a "race the animals" track, a tortoise encounter, an enlarged and improved contact yard with goats, chickens, donkeys and other domestic species, a tunneling zone where children can see tunneling animals, engage in dramatic play and build tunnel mazes for animals, animal homes construction zone where children build animal homes from natural materials, interactive dioramas where children can play with models of animals from Florida's past and future. a fossil lab, a shaded presentation area, guest access to the zoo's program animal collection
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| Is this a project related to 2004 hurricane damage? |
Yes |
| Have you applied for financial assistance from FEMA? |
No |
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| Measurable Outcome Anticipated: |
| Based on 2004 attendance numbers (attendance schedules and annual audits can be provided upon request), approximately 3,000,000 will visit the zoo over a 10 year period. Thirty-nine percent of these visitors (1,170,000) are children under the age of 12 and seven percent (210,000) come as part of visiting school groups. According to a 2001visitor survey, 99% of guests report visiting Paws-On as part of their zoo experience.
In addition, approx 250 students each year participate in programs where they spend seven weeks going to the zoo and 125 students participate in 12 week afterschool programs.
Besides measuring the number of participants using the improved Paws-On area of the zoo, Brevard Zoo will measure the amount of time engaged in physical activities in Paws-On, changes in knowledge and changes in attitude towards local habitats.
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| Amount requested from the State for this project this year: |
$95,000 |
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| Total cost of the project: |
$190,000 |
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| Request has been made to fund: |
Construction |
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| What type of match exists for this project? |
Local, Private |
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Cash Amount |
$65,000 |
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In-kind Amount |
$35,000 |
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| Was this project previously funded by the state? |
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No |
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| Is future-year funding likely to be requested? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget? |
No |
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| Is there a documented need for this project? |
Yes |
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Documentation: |
The 21st Century Learning Centers Project, funded by the Florida Department of Education, documents |
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| Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)? |
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Yes |
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Hearing Body: |
Brevard Legislative Delegation Meeting |
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Hearing Meeting Date: |
01/01/2005 |
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| Is this a water project as described in Section 403.885, Laws of Florida? |
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No |
