Are you interested in learning more about using empathy to motivate guests to take conservation action? The Seattle Aquarium has led workshops around the country to help aquariums and zoos do just that.
AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums use education to connect the public with critical conservation issues. These institutions engage communities through diverse programming that uses research-based strategies to inspire conservation action. Successfully inciting conservation action depends on addressing barriers, incentives and internal motivators. Internal motivators—such as connectedness to nature, environmental identity, emotional affinity with nature, environmental self-efficacy, nature relatedness and empathy—are all associated with conservation action. Of these, empathy toward wildlife is an important factor in predicting an individual’s willingness to take conservation action. To continue improving the quality of our programming, it’s valuable to understand how empathy is developed toward wildlife.
Yes! We are currently planning for the 2023 empathy workshop season and beyond. If you are interested in scheduling a workshop at your facility, please fill out an interest form under the “How do I register for a workshop?” section below.
This workshop lasts 1.5 days. The first day is an introduction to the concept of empathy, including exercises and activities focused on building and identifying empathy in programs. This introduction is suitable for all staff across departments. The day will conclude with an optional action-planning session for participants who wish to integrate empathy principles into their work. Day two focuses on operationalizing the concepts learned on day one and includes an overview of the empathy measurement tools and time to practice using these instruments. This day is suitable for staff who will be implementing or evaluating empathy-based practices. It’s also beneficial for anyone who participated in the first day, to allow a deeper understanding of empathy and how it can be operationalized in the work they do.
We also offer an optional, one-hour executive session add-on for staff/volunteers who are interested in the topic of empathy for animals but can’t attend the full workshop.
Throughout this workshop, participants will understand that:
- Empathy is a unique affective capacity.
- Empathy toward animals is a learned mental and emotional process cultivated throughout a person’s life.
- Fostering informed perceptions and understandings of the needs and experiences of animals through best practices supports empathy development.
- Empathy impacts our work and can be an important tool in encouraging compassionate behavior toward animals.
Participants will be able to:
- Recognize empathic responses and behaviors in visitors.
- Identify areas of their work where they can incorporate empathy principles.
- Comfortably use empathy measurement instruments.
- Network with colleagues within and outside of their institutions.
The Seattle Aquarium does not limit the size of the workshop—usually it’s up to the institution and its available space. We’ve found that it works best with up to 60 attendees.
The Seattle Aquarium provides:
- Briefing document and supporting materials
- Two workshop leaders
- 10–12 hours of instruction
- Empathy measurement tools and training
- Ongoing support after the training
- One-hour overview/executive session (if desired)
Host provides:
- Travel for two workshop leaders (air, lodging, meal and transit reimbursements) (If your institution is located in the Seattle area, only mileage, parking and lunch are requested)
- Printing of workshop materials
- Lunch for workshop (optional for participants, required for facilitators)
- Workshop space on grounds
- Live animal experience (if feasible)
- Opportunity for local colleagues to join if space is available (with preference for AZA facilities)
Please fill out our empathy workshop interest form.
Jim Wharton (he/him/his), Ph.D., director of conservation learning and engagement, provides leadership for the Aquarium’s empathy focus and has served as principal investigator on two major empathy grants. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of marine conservation engagement and co-created the empathy workshops. Jim sees empathy as a key driver and strategy in the Aquarium’s conservation mission, connecting people to animals and ecosystems and encouraging them to see the ocean as a source of hope, wonder and belonging…not to mention essential to their survival.
Darcie Larson (she/her/hers), senior manager, community engagement and inclusion, leads a team of amazing staff and volunteers who engage with community at local beaches, rivers and partner sites outside the walls of the Aquarium. With over 20 years of experience in marine conservation, education and outreach centered around the Salish Sea, Darcie approaches her work with a race and social-justice lens and loves having conversations about how we can use empathy to connect with people and animals.
Kathayoon Khalil (she/her/hers), Ph.D., is the Director of Engagement for Zoo Advisors, where she consults with zoos and aquariums on strategic planning. Kathayoon began working on the empathy project at the Seattle Aquarium in 2015 and has taught numerous workshops on the subject. Additionally, she has given several talks on empathy at conferences and events, both nationally and abroad. Kathayoon enjoys helping zoo and aquarium professionals to think about their empathy work with intentionality and purpose, creating full programmatic life cycles that include planning, implementation and evaluation.
As the interpretation training coordinator, Cari Garand (she/her/hers) trains, coaches, supervises and supports the seasonal staff in the Aquarium’s visitor engagement department. You may also find her blowing bubbles and high-fiving eager explorers as one of the Aquarium’s scientific divers. “Although I may not have realized it, empathy played a huge role in fostering my own passion for the ocean. In college, I was (and still am) in awe of what many people overlook at a trip to the beach: the amazing barnacle! I was fascinated to learn they live upside down in a home they built, doing headstands while eating with their feet. The complexity of a seemingly simply creature catapulted me into a lifetime of marine education and conservation.”
Sarah Brenkert, M.S.Ed. (she/hers) is the principal evaluator at the Seattle Aquarium. In addition to her work as a social science researcher, Sarah has a background in informal learning theory, exhibit design and development, and early childhood education. Sarah earned a Master of Science in early childhood and elementary education from Bank Street College of Education in New York City, and formerly held leadership positions in education and evaluation at the Children’s Museum of Denver and at Denver Zoo. Sarah is insatiably curious about how and what people learn when they spend time in zoos, aquariums, museums and science centers. Sarah's favorite part of her job is working with others to ask interesting questions and explore stories of impact and transformation in free-choice learning spaces.
Interested in working with us? Reach out to empathy.workshop@seattleaquarium.org to learn more!
Over 90% agreed or strongly agreed that they thought the workshop was useful in their work and they felt confident in using the best practices in developing empathy materials. See some quotes from our participants below.
"Thanks for a great workshop! It's been one of the most valuable that I've taken in this field, especially since the volunteer department at my institution is increasingly focusing on volunteers as valuable story-tellers. It will be great to see how helping them to identify some of these inherent behaviors will (hopefully) lead to more confidence in their placement and role in our institution."
You all did an amazing job presenting. It has a very good flow and I am happy to find a strong group of like-minded people. This was one of my first experiences getting to know people from other AZA institutions outside of my own. I can't wait for the conference now and to learn so much more.
Thank you for bringing this topic to life for zoos and aquariums.
So enjoyed the course! Fantastic teachers and great information! Thanks for making the trip!
This was a very helpful workshop and resonated with my team. We are also working on updating our evaluation plan and methods and this fit well into that discussion.
This was great! I feel that I came away from the workshop with a lot of new and interesting information. It was also a great deal of fun!
I appreciate the time spent on this training and feel there are specific things I can use in my work.
It was a great workshop. Very inspiring with helpful tools I can start using now.
The instructors leading the workshop were fantastic. Very open and engaging. The resources that were provided to us and the activities helped the information to sink in.
This was a really great seminar. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from this experience, and had an inkling that it would be more effective for my colleagues on the learning team—but I learned tons of great info I can use every day, whether I'm designing fundraising materials or giving tours to donor families who want to learn about the zoo.
This workshop was a great way to get staff thinking more intentionally about empathy and all of the different techniques. There were some things like agency that I never thought about being related to empathy before. The exercises we did it the workshop were also very helpful!
The empathy workshop has greatly impacted my practice and influenced how I teach all of my school and camp programs. It totally changed my perspective on informal education programming and how to best reach our conservation messaging goals.
I think empathy is such a great topic and I'm very glad we had such a purposeful day dedicated to discussing it. It has influenced our program development tremendously.
Great presentation. Thank you very much for your time and engaging content.
Thanks for shining a light on this important topic and giving us actual tools to use to evaluate this in our programs.