Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Created by: ZooCrew High Point students Mishki, Julia, Giovani, Amman, Abiso and Jazmeiha Note from the blog editor: Our ZooCrew middle school program aims to give students a first-hand look at how fun and rewarding a career in science can be. This semester’s students got hands-on experience exploring several different science careers, from zookeeping to conservation education to science writing.  A small group of students from our ZooCrew High Point program chose to spend their semester working on a video that educates viewers on facts and fictions about misunderstood wolves. The students researched the animals, came up with the video concept and script, and put their own voices into the story. Great work, ZooCrew!

Written by:  ZooCrew Denny students—Cassie, Caitlin, Matea and Trevor Note from the blog editor: Our ZooCrew middle school program aims to give students a first-hand look at how fun and rewarding a career in science can be. This semester’s students got hands-on experience exploring several different science careers, from zookeeping to conservation education to science writing.  A small group of students from our ZooCrew Denny program chose to spend their semester working on their science writing skills, and this blog post comes from an exercise they did in imagining themselves as wolf pups growing up in a pack. Congratulations to the ZooCrew students on a job well done! Here is their story: Dear blog readers, We are going to talk about a wolf pup’s life and what they have to go through in their life. So here we go. Wolf pack at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Part one We are the life structure of the pack. Our parents bring new life int

Posted by: Rob Goehrke, Education One of the goals of our ZooCrew education program for middle schoolers is to  connect youth to professionals  in the field in order to complement their classroom learning and pique their interest in various STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers. This summer, tablets generously donated by Washington STEM* helped us do just that. ZooCrew youth collaborate with zookeepers, giving them a positive exposure to careers in science. Photo by Jess Thomas . In August, ZooCrew partnered with a summer camp based in West Seattle, a good 30 minutes from Woodland Park Zoo. We were working on a project that connected the kids back to our animals on zoo grounds—developing enrichment devices to keep the animals stimulated and kickstart their natural instincts. A project like that needs lots of feedback from the zookeepers to make it work, but it would have been a big investment to ask zookeepers to drive out, stay for the program, and dri

Posted by: Rob Goehrke, Education A wolf receives an enrichment treat put together by Zoo Crew kids. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ “Spectacular!” “Outstanding!” “Awesome!” These are the words I heard after my class of 7th graders enjoyed a culminating experience at Woodland Park Zoo through our Zoo Crew program. Zoo Crew is designed to engage middle school youth from traditionally underserved communities in science and conservation enrichment activities. I had the chance to work with this particular group of kids during their 4-week summer camp through the YMCA, serving as one of their science teachers and guiding them through a program that was both enriching to them and the zoo’s animals. Here’s the recipe: Brown bear at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ Step 1:   Each student choose one of four animals: gray wolf , brown bear ,  l owland anoa  or  k ea Step 2:   As a group, research their animal’s habitat, diet, adaptations, conservation status and more