Journal of Interpretation Research

A mixed method approach was used to evaluate effectiveness of environmental interpretation on visitors’ knowledge, environmental attitude, and pro-environmental behavioral intentions at the International Crane Foundation. Quantitative analysis suggests that participating in personal interpretation has the advantage of improving an audience's knowledge level, but is no more effective than nonpersonal interpretation in influencing attitude and behavioral intentions. Personal and nonpersonal interpretive methods are both effective in promoting knowledge and behavioral intentions for conservation, but do not influence environmental attitude. Qualitative results indicate that participation in personal interpretation makes more of an impression in the visitors’ long-term memory than nonpersonal interpretation.

This study examined the importance of memories of informal learning experiences as families shared their prior experiences during meaning-making talk during nature walks. The families’ memories came from previous visits to interpretive sites and were used to shape their observations of the natural world during conversations in the outdoors. Using ethnographic data collection and thematic analysis, findings are first presented through one family case study, then across all 16 participant families. Three findings include: (1) for one family, prior informal learning experiences provided an essential learning tool for making meaning together during their hike; (2) across the dataset, when families observed the landscape along the trail, they often connected memories gleaned from previous visits to the nature center, while encounters with natural objects sparked memories originating from other informal learning sites; and, (3) children most often recalled prior visits to the nature center, while parents made connections to other settings. This study revealed that families’ personal memories were salient—months and even years later—as they attempted to make meaning with new experiences on the trail. Our work suggests that informal learning spaces that provide the opportunity to make previous connections to life experiences can have a long-term impact on families’ new understandings about the environment.

Historic sites can facilitate public interaction with controversial topics through “hot interpretation” that promotes affective responses. The goal of this article is to critically analyze the evolution of interpretive messaging of the armed resistance of 1885 at Batoche National Historic Site, Canada, through the lens of hot interpretation. Based on a literature review, interpretation evaluations, and site visits, the authors examine how collaborative management approaches have fostered an evolution in interpretation from the one-truth, to parallel narratives, and finally to the “many voices” approach within the hot interpretation framework. This overview suggest how collaborative management approaches and progressive interpretation strategies can heal the hurt of the past, validate various depictions of history, provide venues for democratic discourse about contested issues, generate new thinking, and support resilient communities.

This position paper makes explicit what can be gained by increasing interpretive naturalists’ focus on interpreting insects and their close relatives, particularly in local and regional settings. Insects are widely loathed because a few species are highly irritating. Helping people become aware and observant of the overwhelming percentage of insects that stay hidden and are not bothersome, yet exhibit a wide range of intriguing shapes, adaptations, and behaviors can increase people's comfort in the outdoors. Environmental benefits include increased informal monitoring for invasive species and reduced irrational pesticide use. Understanding of how people are socialized into an interest in nature and natural history suggests a need for frequent and recurring experiences with nature over many years. Engaging with insects costs little and their ever-presence makes seeking these frequent formative experiences with nature readily available. Because interpretive naturalists interpret nature in situ, they are ideally skilled to facilitate human-insect experiences.