The Living Desert Adapts with Virtual Education Programs

Giraffe

By Christian Burrell, Curator of Education and Elise Shtayyeh, Education Program Coordinator

“In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught.” - Baba Dioum

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens works to fulfill our mission of conservation of the world’s desert animals and ecosystems in a variety of ways. We believe that we are most effective when we all work together. As stated in the quote by Baba Dioum, a lot of this begins with education. Without active learning about the impact human activity has on the natural world, our mission cannot be fully realized. As education has largely gone virtual these days, so have The Living Desert’s educational efforts. Today, students are learning on various digital platforms and our education team is working hard to meet students where they are by developing new and innovative ways to provide a variety of educational experiences and content for K-12 students.

The Living Desert is proud to have launched its first virtual education program. Geared towards kindergarten students and working directly with partners Wild Nature Institute in Tanzania and the Palm Springs Unified School District, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens has created a virtual field trip based on the book, Juma the Giraffe. Written by Dr. Monica Bond, this is a touching story about a young giraffe who learns to appreciate his own uniqueness, while imparting lessons about the

natural world. The curriculum and the virtual field trip video help students learn about the unique traits of animals, as seen through the eyes of a giraffe. Storytelling is often the most impactful method for learning. Storytelling helps provide students with context while also creating meaningful and lasting connections. We believe that to accomplish our conservation mission, we need the highest quality education approaches. What better way to do so than through a story? Every child (and adult) can make connections with the protagonist in Juma’s heartwarming tale. Teaching students to find the familiar in the unfamiliar is part of what makes storytelling an integral part of our educational mission. The Living Desert is hard at work creating fun, engaging, and curriculum-specific content. Additional storytime sessions will be added for teachers and parents to access via our website, covering a wide range of ecology-based and seasonal topics. In addition to field trips and storytelling, we adapted our ZooCamp programming to accommodate a virtual format. This past summer, The Living Desert launched Virtual ZooCamp which allowed campers to engage with camp counselors and participate in activities and post-camp explorations. Transitioning the camp experience to that of a virtual setting was a challenge; however, our team was able to provide the student-learners with a chance to learn, engage, and most of all, have fun. Stay tuned for more Virtual ZooCamp opportunities. While conservation is at the core of our mission, education will always be an important pillar to our work. Our capacity to engage with learners of all ages has not been impeded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, we have adapted how and where we teach, moving much of our work online. Whether through ZooCamp, virtual field trips, storytelling on social media, or through our ongoing conservation efforts, The Living Desert is still actively inviting others to join us in appreciating, conserving, and protecting what we love most, the natural world.

To access the Juma the Giraffe Virtual Education Program visit us at LivingDesert.org/Learn

Virtual Field Trip Hosts Christian Burrell & Elise Shtayyeh