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| Abstracts:
Volume 11, Number 2 2006 |
|
| RESEARCH | |
| An
Interpretation Specialization Continuum of Environmental Volunteerism
In Taiwan Mark Morgan Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, Missouri 65211 (573) 882-9525 markmorgan@missouri.edu Hui-nien “Sylvia” Lin College of Forestry and Agriculture Stephen F. Austin State University Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Ju Chou Graduate Institute of Environmental Education National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan Homer Wu Graduate Institute of Environmental Education National TaiChung University Taichung, Taiwan Abstract The Society of Wilderness (SOW) is a non-governmental organization in Taiwan that relies on volunteers to protect nature through environmental education. Since volunteers play such an important role in natural resource preservation, more information is needed to understand their participation in SOW. The purpose of this study was to develop an interpretation specialization continuum of environmental volunteerism in Taiwan. A mail-back survey was administered to interpreters volunteering at Er-ge Mountain during the winter of 2005. Forty-five of 48 questionnaires were returned, yielding a 93.8% response rate. The resource knowledge and place attachment scores of volunteer interpreters were combined into a 2 x 2 matrix, thus providing one explanation for their level of activity involvement in SOW. Although volunteer interpreters were distributed throughout the continuum, results showed that highly specialized interpreters had greater activity involvement scores than those who were less specialized. Length of membership in SOW had no effect on their activity involvement scores. This specialization continuum addressed key managerial issues, such as recruitment and retention of volunteer interpreters. The Development of Semantic Memories Through Interpretation Doug Knapp, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Recreation and Park Administration 133 HPER Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA 812-855-3094 Fax 812-855-3998 dknapp@indiana.edu Abstract This study used a phenomenological analysis to investigate the recollections of participants (N=36) of an interpretive program at Lowell National Historic Park. These individuals were interviewed six months following the experience. Four topic areas relating to the participants’ long-term memory of the interpretive program were identified: (a) personal connections with the tour, (b) program information retention, (c) positive visitor responses, and (d) ranger attributes. Results indicated that the personal connections made during the program were influential in creating vivid episodic memories. Some of the responses from the participants went beyond episodic information and could be associated with conceptual thinking associated with semantic memory or knowledge. The findings of this study, along with literature associated with long-term memory research, offer a potential model of learning for interpretation related to episodic/semantic memory systems. |
|
| IN MY OPINION | |
| The Common Roots of Environmental
Education and Interpretation Ted T. Cable Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources 2021 Throckmorton Hall Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506 785-532-1408 tcable@ksu.edu LuAnn Cadden Missouri Department of Conservation 701 James McCarthy Drive St. Joseph, MO 64507 816-271-3111 ext. 235 luann.cadden@mdc.mo.gov Introduction Even before Freeman Tilden wrote his oft-quoted definition of interpretation, people tried to distinguish between environmental education and interpretation. Although this debate seems to have slowed in the academic literature, our observation is that it is still a source of confusion and conflict in organizations involved with interpretation and environmental education. Most interpreters still would agree with Grant Sharpe, who in his classic interpretation textbook said, “Separating interpretation and environmental education is difficult” (Sharpe, 1982, p. 25). Sharpe’s distinction rested primarily on the settings where the activities happen, and to whom it is directed. He said that interpretation is “mostly directed to visitors to parks, forests, and wildlife areas,” whereas environmental education is “largely directed toward school-age groups, and takes place in such widely diverse areas as schoolrooms, school yards, city streets, and on field trips to museums, parks, and forests” (Sharpe, 1982, p. 25). Sharpe goes on to say, “environmental education is not a substitute but should be regarded as an extension of interpretation.” Others have reversed the order of this statement and seen interpretation as an extension of environmental education. Some see them as totally separate and identifiable activities. Form Follows Function: Interpretive Wisdom for Environmental Educators Eve M. Turek Master of Arts, Prescott College National Association for Interpretation North American Association of Environmental Educators North Carolina Environmental Educators 209 Lancer Court Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948 252-441-3723/FAX: 252-480-1104 mercygoesrunning@yahoo.com Abstract A review of the literature reveals that interpreters’ emphasis on individual connection to the resource offers environmental educators key strategies to promote engagement and addresses critiques of environmental education practice as too generalized, behaviorist, manipulative, or negative. Interpreters serve as the nation’s front-line environmental educators, with the foremost opportunity to inspire adults to engage in the free-choice learning that may, at best, motivate deeper ecological awareness and personal environmental activism. Pairing interpreters with teachers can extend the same opportunities to students. My Relationship with Interpretation and Environmental Education Doug Knapp, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Recreation and Park Administration 133 HPER Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA 812-855-3094 Fax 812-855-3998 dknapp@indiana.edu Introduction I’m not a fan of opinion pieces. These days most of my writing is devoted to research. This is an odd statement from one whose writings 20 years ago consisted of nature trail signs and pamphlets. Not that I’ve changed my feeling for the importance of such material, but since I’m in the halls of academia, I might as well do what real interpreters don’t have time for—find out what works! But back to my first statement—my motivation for this opinion piece stems from a recent exercise in collecting my materials for promotion at my university. Although an exercise in self adulation, it did give me a chance to look back on my own relationship with the two professions that I have studied, worked, and revered for the past 25 years. In completing this reflective journey, I found there to be three phases of my relationship with interpretation and environmental education (EE) during my past 14 years in higher academics. Initially, much of my time was spent in offering delineations between EE and interpretation. Through this process, I began to enter a more “volatile” period of consternation over the status of EE. Finally, for the past several years, I have settled into a period of evaluation and analysis. |
|
| IN SHORT | |
A
Public’s Awareness of Regional Parks and Park Management Agencies
with
Implications for Management-oriented Interpretation |
National Association for Interpretation | 888-900-8283 | www.interpnet.com