The entertainment industry has a lot to offer education via edutainment (entertainment with educational aspects added) that uses aspects such as play, exploration, and interactivity to foster learning. Edutainment mediums take many forms including: video games; documentaries; museums; and theme parks. While most mediums have been around for decades, educational attractions are newer and change quickly with technological advances. We focus on edutainment in Disney’s most educational theme park, Epcot. Epcot combines the expected attractions with strong educational elements woven throughout the park. Drawing upon key edutainment focused attractions such as Living Seas, Living with the Land, Universe of Energy, and Journey of Water, this paper analyses how educational elements have been successfully embedded in attractions, when they have failed, and why they are important to education. We used data sources such as direct observation, field notes, and archival information and analyzed edutainment type attractions through the lens of game theory combined with elements of Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories. The discussion of lessons learned focuses on the limitations and advantages related to various target audiences (e.g. preschoolers, middle schoolers), educational content (e.g. sustainability, water cycle, fossil fuels, agricultural techniques), delivery methods (how educational elements are integrated), and impact on attraction characteristics (e.g. popularity, ride-ability). In conclusion, we found that edutainment can be successfully embedded in attractions but the tension between the educational content delivery and attraction characteristics needs to be effectively managed for this edutainment medium to be successful.

Authors:
Victoria Zinga, Brock University, Canada
Dawn Zinga, Brock University, Canada

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Victoria Zinga is a University Postgraduate Student at Brock University in Canada

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