Sea Grant's Talking Gull
Educates Young and Old

What's three feet tall, has wings and webbed feet, and teaches children and adults about the Great Lakes and related environmental issues? It's Sea Grant's interactive educational exhibit, Gulliver the Talking Gull!

Talking animals are very effective educators. Think about it. McGruff teaches children to "take a bite outta' crime." Woodsy the Owl asks people not to pollute the environment. And Gulliver reminds us to protect our Great Lakes and other water resources.

Children and adults will ask talking animals things that they wouldn't normally discuss with a real person, especially when the message is told with a sense of humor. That's why Gulliver was created by the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network. Gulliver is a lifelike, mechanical replica of a ring bill gull.

During the 1990 Illinois State Fair, the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program featured Gulliver for three days at Conservation World. The 22-acre park setting on the fairgrounds provided the ideal location for Gulliver to educate both the young and not-so-young about the Great Lakes.

Volunteers bring Gulliver to life as they read from over a dozen scripts prepared by Sea Grant. The scripts are written to draw children into a conversation and then keep them interested by asking them more questions. As a result, Gulliver interacts with his audience instead of lecturing. He makes learning fun and entertaining! Topics include pollution, Great Lakes recreation, wetlands, nutritional facts about fish, Great Lakes history, and what gulls like to do and eat.

The Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant staff found this interactive exhibit much more successful at getting our message across than a standard, static display. In fact, our "feathered educator" was bombarded with so many questions that a volunteer was placed near Gulliver to decipher questions from the enthusiastic audience.

Gulliver is available for educational events. This unique educational tool is ideal for museums, grade schools, state and county fairs, university events, or 4-H and other Extension functions.

For more information about Gulliver, write the Illinois- Indiana Sea Grant Program, University of Illinois, 65 JE Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801 or call 217-333- 9448 or contact any other Great Lakes Sea Grant Program.

Gulliver entertains children at Illinois State Fair.

"I gabbed with Gulliver" sticker.

This article is online at http://www.joe.org/joe/1991fall/tt3.html.

Copyright © by Extension Journal, Inc. ISSN 1077-5315. Articles appearing in the Journal become the property of the Journal. Single copies of articles may be reproduced in electronic or print form for use in educational or training activities. Inclusion of articles in other publications, electronic sources, or systematic large-scale distribution may be done only with prior electronic or written permission of the Journal Editorial Office, joe-ed@joe.org.