從遊客的角度探討現代動物園在 環境教育工作推廣上扮演的角色

The Role of Modern Zoos in Environmental Education: The Visitors’ Perspective

臺北市立動物園聲稱自身是個具「教育」、「研 究」、「保育」與「遊憩」四種功能的現代動物園。 但由於受臺北市政府教育局管轄，因此主要透過教 育與遊憩功能的發揮，來落實環境教育廣之工作。 本文以結構方程式模型，探討對遊客而言，除了教 育和遊憩功能，動物園的研究與保育功能角色是否 能成為影響他們對動物園環境教育工作認同感的中 介變項。透過蒐集472 個有效樣本之數據進行分 析，結果顯示結構方程式的中介效果成立。意即若 遊客也能認同臺北市立動物園的研究與保育功能角 色，那遊客原本對動物園的教育與遊憩功能的正向 認知，便更能驅使他們對動物園環境教育工作表現 環抱正向的認同感。對環境教育工作者而言，本文 提供了一個不同的思考角度：在以寓教於樂的方式 規劃環境教育課程的同時，可以適時地向受眾傳達 研究和保育等專業訊息，讓他們能更加認同自己參 與相關活動的行為意義。

Taipei Zoo claims to be a modern zoo that plays four functional roles: education， research， conservation， and recreation. However， as the zoo is administrated by the Department of Education of Taipei City Government， education and recreation functions are the main vehicles for the zoo to develop its environmental education plan. This paper employs the structural equation model to examine when visitors’ recognition of the zoo’s education and recreation functions causes them to approve the zoo’s environmental education programs， and whether the zoo’s research and conservation functions would become a mediating variable within the causal relation. Based on the 472 validated samples， the result suggest that the research and conservation functions presents a mediation effect. According to the findings， the paper suggests that education and recreation may be factors for a successful environmental education activities， while planners can consider highlighting the professional knowledge concerned with environmental research and conservation in the activity. This type of arrangement can make the environmental education programs more meaningful， and thus increase the participants’ approval of them.