A wasp stuns a cockroach, turning it into a zombie-like trance before laying its eggs, which hatch and feast on the cockroach from the inside out. What could be more gruesome or more irresistible to a class of eight-year-olds?
The jewel wasp from South Asia and Africa is just one of 500 species whose life cycle school children of any age can enjoy first-hand at Chester Zoo. Sean Dick, assistant team manager for education officers at the zoo, says: “Children can see things we are talking about happening in front of them. You can’t duplicate that experience anywhere else – it captivates them.”
Children have the chance to hold a life-size replica of a giraffe’s vertebra or the actual jawbone of an elephant, along with many other artefacts, as part of the variety of educational workshops. They’ll also find out which of the 21,000 animals at the zoo has a 45cm (18in) tongue and discover whose ears are adapted to help them see in the dark. The workshops take science, geography and psychology from the national curriculum, from key stage 1 to sixth form, and bring the wonders of the animal kingdom to life.
At Urmston grammar school in Manchester, science teacher Sarah Ryan has accompanied year 7s to the zoo for the past five years and has organised the trip herself for the past two years. It’s a fun and enjoyable trip that also helps the children with their key stage 3 science lessons, which look at how animals adapt to their natural environment. “Children can hold a tiger’s skull and look at the shape of the teeth. I can’t offer that hands-on experience. This isn’t like zoos used to be in the 1970s – you don’t just see animals pacing around. There’s a big emphasis here on conservation and our children need to know about climate change.”
Fourteen-year-old Alex Lord, who visited the zoo in year 7, said the trip helped with her school work: “I was struggling with my project and I have always been a perfectionist, so I was thankful for the chance to ask the keepers for some extra information.”
Lizzie Musgrove, 13, who was on the same trip, says she was captivated by seeing the bats: “My favourite animals were the bats, because you were able to walk through their habitat.”
Teachers have access to an online library of resources ahead of a visit, while worksheets, including fun quizzes, are also available on the day to support the out-of-the-classroom learning. A team of rangers is available to answer any questions throughout the day.
But it’s not just the educational experience that children take away with them after visiting Chester Zoo. Ryan is passionate about the added social value the experience brings: “It gives you the opportunity to talk about other things going on in school as you walk around. It helps the children see the teacher as a human being.”
Alex says the trip introduced her to new friends. “Kids nowadays all have their own groups … which is why I think it was good that we were put into groups with people we would never have spoken to otherwise,” she says. “I didn’t know the other children, so the range of conversation was much bigger, because I had never talked to them about anything before.”
James Willows, 13, felt the same: “Going around with people I didn’t usually hang out with helped me learn about their personalities and they mine. I was also able to make a few friends from the trip who I didn’t think I would be friends with.”
For Ryan it’s nice to see children simply enjoying themselves: “They really engage as children should do – they are more playful. They go back to being children and have that sense of wonder.”
The added value of the trip, from the new and unique experiences it gave students, was borne out by the results of a survey conducted by Chester Zoo, on site. Chester Zoo said that, of the teachers that they surveyed who visited last year, 82% described visiting the zoo as a “fun day out”; 57% said it broadened students’ outlooks; and 37% said it was good for relationship building.
Dick agrees that a zoo visit gives children a better view of the world. “More and more children today are seeing the world through a screen, but here we give them the opportunity to widen their view of the world,” he says. “They may never have seen a tiger or zebra before, but here they can get up close and personal and that can be pretty exciting.”
Like Ryan, he knows the visit has the potential to bring teachers and pupils closer together: “Animals are a universal equaliser – anybody looking at baby elephants has the same reaction. It creates a connection – no matter what your education or your capacity for learning.”
Discover how Chester Zoo can help you bring learning to life at chesterzoo.org/learning
