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As a national leader in environmental education, the Bronx Zoo has disseminated its award-winning science curricula nationwide and to educators in 15 foreign countries.
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Flaherty Learning Center
 High above the new spectacular Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit at the Bronx Zoo, the Flaherty Learning Center allows the Zoo's Education Department to expand the awareness of young minds and increase the teaching repertoire of teachers. As a national leader in environmental education, the Bronx Zoo has disseminated its award-winning science curricula nationwide and to educators in 15 foreign countries. Currently, the Bronx Zoo's Education Department trains more than 2,000 new teachers through nationwide professional development programs. These teachers reach well over 100,000 students annually. Because of the depth of training, teachers continue to use Bronx Zoo curricula for many years, affecting more than a million students nationwide during any academic year.
Congo Gorilla Forest builds on past success and experience to provide additional resources and to reach an even wider audience. The Flaherty Learning Center was made possible through a gift from the William E. Flaherty Family Foundation. The Center contains The Charles Hayden Foundation Treetop Lab, with views into the mandrill, aviary and guenon monkey exhibits; and The Bodman Foundation Congo Lab, overlooking the outside gorilla habitat, as well as winter areas.  Major funding for the exhibition and a broad range of Congo-related material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant # ESI-9614738. A special Congo Family Adventure program teaches parents to use a Congo Adventure Kit with their children. The highly interactive kit features stimulating science equipment including binoculars, camera, compass, and magnifying lens. Also included are activity cards and "A Family Guide to Congo." This program will help parents become experts in using the exhibit to guide their children and to answer any questions they may have.
The Bronx Zoo's Education Department has had a great deal of success with its focus on teacher training to reach the greatest number of students. The Flaherty Learning Center offers spectacular views into the Congo Gorilla Forest exhibits, allowing for a broader reach in training larger numbers of teachers. To derive maximum educational benefit from this complex exhibit, teachers will be supported by a comprehensive professional development program that includes workshops and classroom materials. An exciting series of curriculum packets for teachers visiting the Congo Gorilla Forest has been developed by Bronx Zoo Education Department staff. Keyed to national science education standards, these materials include pre-, post-, and in-zoo activity lesson plans, teacher background information, full-color classroom posters, and fully-illustrated storybooks. Activities center on the exhibit's main themes: exploring the African rain forest, animal adaptations, gorilla behavior, conservation choices, and answering the key questions visitors will be inspired to ask, "How Can I Help?" The storybook for young children focuses on a gorilla searching for its rain forest habitat, while the book for older children contains a reader-driven interactive story, where readers make choices and have multiple and varied adventures in the African rain forest.
Additionally, the Flaherty Learning Center's space and computing facilities will facilitate the expansion of the Bronx Zoo's nationally-known teacher training in the Wildlife Inquiry through Zoo Education (WIZE), Pablo Python Looks at Animals, Habitat Ecology Learning Program (HELP), and Voyage from the Sun curricula.
All teachers bringing classes for a Bronx Zoo visit, which includes the Congo Gorilla Forest experience, will be required to enroll in a free two-hour orientation workshop prior to their visit. Teachers are asked to schedule their teacher workshop course by contacting the Bronx Zoo Education Department by mail at: Congo Workshop Coordinator, Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY 10460; or by calling Bronx Zoo Congo Workshop Coordinator at 718-220-5131; or by e-mailing us at skatz@wcs.org.
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