What we can learn from the otters

There are three new stars at the EcoMuseum Zoo for 2017, and they will capture the hearts of thousands of human spectators over the next few years.

Three American otters have arrived from Florida, rescued from the fur trade. And not only do we have the prospect of their underwater performances for the next 20 years, we have the possibility of a reproductive miracle.

If they like their new home at our EcoMuseum Zoo, they might reproduce. There are two males and one female, and there’s no knowing how that might work out. But yes, says David Rodrigue, the EcoMuseum Zoo’s director-general, we could have little otters, animals that rank with pandas as zoo superstars. And right here on the West Island.

A world-class ecological facility, modern animal care and endless playtime. Even the most skeptical critics will be won over!

The EcoMuseum Zoo has moved into the super-zoo category. The West Island could even build its tourism brand on this zoo in the woods. With its new facilities, it has become a world-class facility.

It’s a huge catch, so to speak, for the EcoMuseum Zoo which has set 150,000 as its target number of visitors for 2017. When word gets out about the fabulous facility built for the otters at a fundraised cost of $1.4 million, the zoo-school in the SainteMarie woods might well hit its target. And continue to grow its national and global reputation.

When other zoos start visiting you to find out your recipes for animal care and display, you know you’re on the right track.

These three little American gun-culture refugees will definitely not end up decorating expensive U.S. fur coats. These three animals have been shipped in to educate and entertain crowds of people right here on the West Island. And I have to admit that I am very happy that otters are back. I was very sad when the zoo’s last otter died and the show stopped.

And what is it that they do that is so entertaining? The last time I saw them swimming around like Olympic synchronized swimmers, I had to admire the sheer joy of watching them play. Nothing more complicated than that. Just apparently having fun playing.

Which made me think about teaching. And innovation in education, which is after all what the EcoMuseum is all about. Education was the mission of founder Roger Bider, and one that David Rodrigue and his energetic and enthusiastic staff are realizing with a new professional approach in these new buildings.

You can boil education down to two schools of thought: It’s either a grind, a sit-down struggle to process theory and facts, or it’s fun — it’s playtime. And the teachers you remember best are those who made whatever it was, even slogging through difficult materials, rewarding fun.

I bring this up here because just as our woodland zoo makes a claim to innovation in its educational mission, CEGEP John Abbott, just a couple of kilometres from the three otters, has opened something it calls “The Sandbox” for its West Island students to play in. It’s attached to Engineering, but it’s like the otter facility: It’s a place to play, a hangout for “innovators.” Students, young people with new ideas can take their projects and develop them in The Sandbox, a large open-area space in John Abbott’s Engineering department.

The Sandbox is already open for business and Mary Rupnik, the enthusiastic co-ordinator, is assessing the first ideas from John Abbott’s prospective apprentice innovators. Projects have to involve at least three students and must be an idea to solve a campus problem. In April, there will be presentations and, of course, prizes. Playtime has begun. And just as high-tech businesses, built on entrepreneurship and multiple innovations, create playful, open-ended environments for the development of ideas, so John Abbott’s Sandbox is an experiment in open form. The mission is to encourage innovation and collaboration. And to find the resources to help young people develop their ideas.

It’s a trend: More and more we hear about the need for innovation. As a society we must innovate and adapt to innovation. There is a connection between entertainment/fun and innovation. Innovation won’t happen unless you create the right environment for it. If you want your educational environment to be innovative, you have to create conditions for productive play and work together.

Next time you get to watch the otters playing in their luxury waterpark, think about the students playing in their Sandbox just a stone’s throw away at John Abbott.

There’s no reason innovation shouldn’t be fun.