Date

Spaces are limited! 

Human-Animal Interaction – CEWHALL Program Workshop

Learn how to train animals and successfully lead yourself, animals, and people through positive relationship building, empathy, and teamwork!

In this hands-on workshop you will work with live koi to get an introduction to the fundamentals of the positive methods professional animal trainers use. This humane education workshop will utilize your interactions with koi to teach you some aquatic animal and conservation basics as well as problem solving skills you can later apply to other animal species … and people too!

Since your “student” will be a koi, you will learn an overview of fish biology and care; how water quality impacts captive fish welfare; facts about koi and Japanese culture; some ways conservation and fish are connected; and how you can make a difference for fish by sharing what you have learned with others.

You will work with the same koi over the course of the week to try to teach it some basic behaviors that help to increase captive animal welfare. This fun and interactive workshop will also teach you other important skills for building more positive relationships with both animals and people. Some of the techniques you will be taught include how to:

  • Communicate more effectively
  • Positively shape behavior
  • Understand the perspectives & behavior of others
  • Grow your awareness & sensitivity about what   others are experiencing
  • Identify confusion & stress in yourself & others
  • Lead yourself & others back to a more relaxed & connected state after stress
  • Increase your leadership & team building knowledge
  • Apply all your new skills to both animal  training and human interactions

Your instructors will also help guide you and your fellow koi trainers as you work as a team to design a short presentation about what you feel are the most important things you learned through your interactions with the koi. This workshop concludes with a Saturday “Presentation and Pizza Reception” where you will share your group presentation with one of your family members, followed by a “Koi Meet & Greet” so your chosen family member can meet the koi you worked with all week! After the workshop concludes, you will also be emailed some digital photographs of you working with your koi.

This special workshop is taught by an interdisciplinary team of instructors that include faculty and staff from the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, Robert Morris University, Bloomsburg University, Brooke County Schools, and Pittsburgh Public Schools. It includes curriculum from a multi-institutional research collaboration,The HAI-CEWHALL Program Research Project, which explores human-animal interaction and educational and health outcomes for children and welfare outcomes for animals (conservation, education, welfare, health, attachment, learning, and leadership - CEWHALL).

This Workshop takes place at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. Standard Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium liability waivers and release forms for animal interactions must be completed as part of your registration.

This workshop includes direct interaction with koi and is most appropriate for participants who are comfortable touching live animals. No prior experience with fish is necessary. Participants will get partially wet putting their hands and arms in the water and may also get splashed by other participants and/or the fish. This workshop is NOT appropriate for participants with seafood or shellfish allergies or allergies to common products used for normal fish tank maintenance and/or fish care. This is an educational workshop conducted in a classroom with a portion of the workshop taking place in the Koi Human-Animal Interaction Lab each day. Please understand, each participant’s time in the Koi HAI Lab is limited per day to ensure the health and wellbeing of the animals and to make sure all participants have an equal opportunity for direct interaction, please set expectations accordingly.

The HAI-CEWHALL Program Workshop is six consecutive ½ day sessions. The workshop begins on Monday July 18th and concludes on Saturday July 23rd (You must select either the AM OR the PM Session. You may not change session times during the week.) Each session will include a daily break with light snacks and drinks. Participants will also receive a Workshop T-Shirt to wear throughout the week as well as a Workshop Bag that includes items the students will use while interacting with the koi.

  • AM Session - $250.00

  • Grades 6 - 7 (ideally ages 10 - 12)
  • July 18th through July 22rd 8:00 AM – 12:30 PM
  • *July 23rd
  • 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM Presentation Rehearsal – Workshop Participants Only (Joint Session)
  • 12:15 PM – 12:30 PM Families Arrive and Sign Up for Koi &Greet Session
  • 12: 30 PM – 1:45 PM Presentation and Pizza Reception for Families
  • 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Koi Meet & Greet for Families

  • PM Session - $250.00

  • Grades 8 - 9 (ideally ages 13 - 15)
  • July 18th through July 22nd 12:30 PM – 5:00 PM
  • *July 23rd
  • 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM Presentation Rehearsal – Workshop Participants Only (Joint Session)
  • 12:15 PM – 12:30 PM Families Arrive and Sign Up for Koi Meet & Greet Session
  • 12: 30 PM – 1:45 PM Presentation and Pizza Reception for Families
  • 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Koi Meet & Greet for Families

REGISTER HERE!!!  https://robertmorrisacademiccamps.totalcamps.com/shop/EVENT

HUMAN ANIMAL INTERACTION CAMP 2022