While sciences such as physics and chemistry lend themselves to compelling opportunities for interaction (explosions, reactions, objects in motion), restoration ecology is more challenging for children to engage with in a traditional learning context. The difficulties in teaching restoration ecology include the large amount of time and space over which ecological processes occur, ethical constraints on performing real-world experiments, and limited access to certain ecological settings.

EcoRaft is an interactive museum exhibit platform that addresses these difficulties, providing an opportunity for children to engage with core themes in restoration ecology. By interacting with an animated simulation, museum visitors can learn about such topics as the interdependencies between species, the relationship between conservation and restoration, and the need for an existing, protected population for reintroduction of populations to the restoration area.
The platform involves several “virtual islands” of computer animated habitat, each displayed on a large monitor and inhabited by a group of animated species. Several tablet PCs serve as virtual collecting boxes (the “rafts”), enabling children to transfer individuals of a species from one island to another. EcoRaft lets children explore intricate themes of the restoration process such as interactions among different species and the impact of introducing new species into established habitats.

Results/Conclusions

An initial prototype of the EcoRaft exhibit was developed based on a Costa Rican rain forest habitat. Over the past two years, more than 3000 participants, including several hundred children, have interacted with this system at academic conferences, a science museum, and the creators’ research lab.

The current stage of the project involves the development of a network of six more exhibits, each installed in a different science center or museum throughout the US, and each focusing on an ecological issue that is relevant to that geographical region. These regionally-focused simulations will address issues raised in our evaluations by providing more complexity and enhanced opportunity for participants to draw on their prior knowledge of local ecosystems to support their learning. Each exhibit will be created by a collaborative team from that region including an ecologist who studies that ecosystem, a computer programmer, an animator, and a staff member from the science center. By presenting the project at ESA, we seek to offer a functional prototype of a new model for learning about ecology, and to find ecologists who might be interested in contributing to the six exhibits currently under development.