When it came to developing future zoologists in the Midwest, veteran biology professor Gary Dodson decided it was time to change the status quo.

Thousands of freshmen enroll in biology in America's classrooms each year, aspiring to someday work closely with animals, but programs that prepare students to work in zoos are startlingly rare. And zoo internship programs that bolster students' chances of becoming a zoo keeper are highly competitive.

With Ball State's Department of Biology facing such challenges, Dodson took matters in his own hands and established an immersive learning experience at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo—just about 90 minutes from campus.

"We needed an immersive experience that puts our students into a real zoo and gives them the freedom and responsibility of producing something that makes the zoo better," Dodson says.

An 11-member interdisciplinary team of Ball State students spent several months on projects designed to provide visitors of the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo with detailed information about how the facility takes care of its residents.

The zoo dates back to the early 1950s and is one of the northeast Indiana's major attractions. The facility was recently named one of the country’s "Ten Best Zoos for Kids" by Child magazine.

The projects included two student-produced videos. One showcases the behavioral training that takes place with the orangutans to gain the animals' cooperation in their own preventive health care. The other video documents the procedures required to meet the nutritional requirements of the zoo's jellyfish population. A third project documents and analyzes visitors' abilities at navigating within the zoo grounds.

Rob Bragg, a biology student from Upland, Indiana, says working at the zoo was a transforming experience, giving him a head start on the field before he enrolls in veterinary school in the future. During his stay at the zoo, he got to assist with a medical check-up on a binturong as well as participate in research on anti-fungal medications for penguins.

"It forced me beyond what I am comfortable with in a normal classroom and gave me a realistic view of how a zoo works inside and out."