257-14 Relating to Rocks: An Exploration of the Use of Audience-Centered-Experience Techniques for Geoscience Interpretive Programs within the National Park Service

Session: Diversifying Geoscience Education Across the Academic Playing Field: Using Creative Methods to Foster the Current and Next Generations of Geoscience Professionals (Posters)

Presenting Author:

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Abstract:

Over the last century, the National Park Service (NPS) has made great advancements in the effectiveness of interpretation and the impact of interpretive programs on park visitors. The development of Audience-Centered-Experience (ACE) techniques has allowed Interpretive Park Rangers to better connect the visitors to the resource, inspire change, and invoke compassion for the resources the NPS protects. These ACE techniques call upon the stories, values, emotions, and wisdom of the visitor, relating these experiences to the universal concepts that the resource represents.

With visitor experiences at the focus of interpretation, many geologic resources preserved by the NPS are now explored as Geoheritage sites that take into perspective not just the scientific value but the holistic value of the site from aesthetic to recreational to cultural. ACE Interpretation highlights these values and promotes geoconservation by informing visitors about the importance of these spaces.  However, not all interpretive park rangers have adjusted to this developing interpretive strategy, especially in the field of geoscience resources.

This research study examined the perceptions of Interpretive Park Rangers on the use and effectiveness of ACE techniques within geoheritage spaces and geoscience interpretive programs. By analysis of these perceptions as qualitative data reported by Interpretive Park Rangers through an online Qualtrics survey, this study aimed to produce an effective prototype for a geoscience interpretive program capable of being deployed in an NPS unit and adapted for future use in other NPS units. Designed for Great Sand Dunes National Park (GRSA), this prototype was evaluated by interviewing a GRSA Interpretive Park Ranger and consulting a geoscience content expert for feedback on the prototype's effectiveness, relevancy, accuracy, and completeness. Initial results drawn from the analysis of the survey indicate five themes of effective Geoscience ACE Interpretation: Connecting Through Stories, Establishing Familiarity, Making Space, Finding Emotional Perspective, and Creating Kinesthetic and Visual Opportunities. A revised final product of the prototype exemplifies the use of several ACE techniques to foster these five themes within a geoscience interpretive program. This study aims to increase the accessibility of ACE information, especially within geoeducation, assisting park rangers who are not currently utilizing this new interpretive strategy and further advancing interpretation and geoscience preservation within the NPS.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

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