Journal of Interpretation Research

With children increasingly disconnected from nature and much interpretation geared toward adults, agencies need age-appropriate techniques for children. Improvisational theater games use group-based role-playing to solve problems through dialogue and activity in a creative, spontaneous, supportive, and interactive atmosphere. This paper highlights children's enjoyment and perceived learning resulting from a new improvisation program in Banff National Park, Canada.

We thematically analyzed open-ended evaluations of an improvisation-dominated program. The activities enjoyed most included improvisation, because they involved fun, physical activity, creativity, challenge, and novelty. The least-enjoyed activities were physical activity games and an interpretive talk. Perceived learning was highest from an interpretive talk and nature walk and least from games focused on physical or group activities. Most perceived and desired learning related to natural history and park management topics. Despite being nontraditional and non-thematic, improvisation can contribute to children's enjoyment and perceived learning in park interpretive programs.

Communication theories guided the development of messages to increase attention paid to signs in Yosemite National Park regarding food storage in bear country. Four experimental signs (moral appeal, humorous appeal, narrative story, and telegraphic title) were tested against a standard park message at three locations in the park. Hypotheses that the experimental signs would outperform the standard sign were only partially supported. In most cases, more than 50% of visitors at least glanced at the signs, although few paid sufficient attention to fully process the message. The most effective sign overall was the narrative format. However, observations of 963 people indicated that the effect of signs on reading behavior is highly variable and depends often on the location of the sign. Interviews with 163 visitors in two locations showed that visitors recognized certain signs as highly familiar and tended not to like traditional formats as much as the novel designs. The empathetic and narrative messages received the most positive response. The highly variable attracting power and holding times for the different messages across locations suggests park managers need to attend closely to audience and site characteristics if they expect to communicate effectively with signs. Implications for understanding message vividness are developed.

This study assesses the impact of a Headwaters Institute seminar interpretation training on a river guide's client knowledge and interest regarding the environment. The experiences of clients of river guides who had participated in the training were compared to experiences of clients of river guides who had not participated in the training. Experience in this case was measured by increase in interest in and knowledge of the river environment pre- and post-rafting trip. Regardless of guide training, all clients’ interest in and knowledge of the environment showed significant increase after the rafting experience. However, clients of guides who had participated in the training had significantly higher increases than clients of guides who did not participate in the training. This study indicates that river guide participation in interpretation training can influence the client's knowledge and interest regarding the environment. This study indicates that the embedding of interpretive messages in settings that are not traditionally interpretation platforms can encourage interest in the natural environment in a wider population.

Much has been written about accessible text, regarding word counts, active rather than passive tense, straightening out sub-clauses and so on. This is now becoming embedded in good museum writing practice. At the British Museum, our aim is to maximize visitors’ engagement with our collections. Beyond the basic guidelines outlined above and in the light of the results of recent visitor research and evaluation we have begun to look again at the way in which we write interpretive text.

This article focuses on writing text for permanent galleries, rather than temporary exhibitions, and uses the recent Japan Gallery as a case study. The article also aims to provide some practical tips for writing and the interpretation process.