Long term effects of experiential learning on attitudes?

Wildlife education programs teach people about ecology, conservation, and safety strategies when encountering potentially dangerous animals. Such programs have traditionally used presentation style communication tools that... [ view full abstract ]

Wildlife education programs teach people about ecology, conservation, and safety strategies when encountering potentially dangerous animals. Such programs have traditionally used presentation style communication tools that have proven to be only slightly effective. Experiential education, on the other hand, provides opportunities for individuals to internalize and retain knowledge via direct interaction. An experiential education program was designed to target risk perceptions and preventative measures that would enable people to feel more
comfortable in situations where coyotes are present. The research was conducted near Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada (CBHNPC), where a coyote caused a human fatality in 2009. Based on previous research, we explored the effects of an experience-based coyote education program on people’s (a) attitudes toward, (b) fear of, (c) likelihood of, and (d) control
over coming into contact with coyotes. Attitudes toward coyotes (3 items), the fear of (3 items), the likelihood of (7 items) and the control of (7 items) coming into contact with a coyote were the dependent variables. A pre- and post-test questionnaire were used to test any differences in attitudes and risk perception immediately following a respondent’s participation. A delayed-test questionnaire was administrated one year following to see if there were any long term effects of
this program on people’s attitudes and risk perceptions. The experiential education approach to wildlife safety and coexistence communication had a significant positive effect on people’s attitudes, significantly decreased their sense of fear toward coyotes, significantly decreased their sense of likelihood, and increased their sense of control in human-coyote interactions.