Michal Medek: Environmental Interpretation 20.10.2019
Lesson 1 1
Theoretical Concepts Behind
Heritage Interpretation
Michal Medek
michal.medek@kapraluvmlyn.cz
www.michalmedek.cz
Tildens's Principles of Interpretation
• 1. Any interpretation that does not somehow relate
what is being displayed or being described to
something within the personality or experience of
the visitor will be sterile.
Tildens's Principles of Interpretation
• 2. Information, as such, is not interpretation.
Interpretation is revelation based upon information. But
they are entirely different things. However, all
interpretation includes information.
“... it should also be acknowledged that once a certain idea
of landscape, a myth, a vision, establishes itself in an actual
place, it has a peculiar way of muddling categories, of
making metaphors more real than their referents; of
becoming, in fact, part of the scenery.”
Shama 1996, Landscape and Memory
Tildens's Principles of Interpretation
• 3. Interpretation is an art which combines
many arts whether the materials presented
are scientific, historical or architectural. Any
art is in some degree teachable.
Tildens's Principles of Interpretation
• 4. The chief aim of interpretation is not
instruction, but provocation.
• Education is process of deliberate and
purposeful influencing of conditions that
enable optimal development of an individual
to become authentic, integrated and socialized
character. (Pelikán, 1995)
Popular learning models in CZ:
• Experiential learning (Kurt Lewin => David Kolb)
– experience – group reflection – generalization –
planning
– concrete experience – reflective observation – abstract
conceptualisation – active experimentation
• E-U-R
– spontaneous learning
– Evocation – Acquiring knowledge – Reflection of
learning (content & process)
What Tilden did not know?
How we learn
Michal Medek: Environmental Interpretation 20.10.2019
Lesson 1 2
• Peter Jarvis (1998) – response to experience
– Non-learning (prejudice, disinterest, rejection)
– Non reflective learning (learning of a skill, memorization)
– Reflective learning (contemplation, reflective learning of skills,
learning by experiment)
• Phil Race (2010)
– focus on emotions in learning
– learning process is affected by:
• Motivation
• Feedback
• Meaningfulness and ownership
• Mentoring, support
What Tilden did not know?
How we learn
Phil Race – emotions in learning
Active
Experimentation
Concrete
Experience
Reflective
Observation
Abstract
Conceptualisation
Feelings?
Emotions?
People?
Communication?
Judgments? Desire?
Ownership?
Wanting/
Needing
Doing
Phil Race – ripples on water
Making sense
Feedback
Coaching,
explaining,
teaching
Tildens's Principles of Interpretation
• 5. Interpretation should aim to present a
whole rather than a part and must address
itself to the whole man rather than any phase.
Tildens's Principles of Interpretation
• 6. Interpretation addressed to children should not be
a dilution of the presentation to adults, but should
follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at
its best it will require a separate program.
Refining Tildens's classification
• sensori-motor (0-yrs)
– touch of nature
• pre-operational (2-6 yrs)
– intuitive thinking, fabulation plays important role
– activities, exploration, hands-on, limited ability of classification and
categorizing
• concrete-operational (7-11)
– enourmous ability to gain information
– ability of classification
– limited ability to consider alternatives
• Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
Michal Medek: Environmental Interpretation 20.10.2019
Lesson 1 3
Broadening of the principles
Beck & Cable (2002)
• The interpretive presentation – as a work of art – should be
designed as a story that informs, entertains and enlightens.
• The purpose of the interpretive story is to inspire and provoke
people to broaden their horizons
• High technology can reveal the world in exciting new ways.
However, incorporating this technology into the interpretive
program must be done with foresight and care.
• Interpreters must concern themselves with the quantity and
quality (selection and accuracy) of information presented.
Focused well-researched interpretation will be more powerful
than a longer discourse.
Broadening of the principles
Beck & Cable (2002)
• The interpretive presentation – as a work of art – should be
designed as a story that informs, entertains and enlightens.
• The purpose of the interpretive story is to inspire and provoke
people to broaden their horizons
• High technology can reveal the world in exciting new ways.
However, incorporating this technology into the interpretive
program must be done with foresight and care.
• Interpreters must concern themselves with the quantity and
quality (selection and accuracy) of information presented.
Focused well-researched interpretation will be more powerful
than a longer discourse.
CAPTIVE vs. NONCAPTIVE AUDIENCES
Ham 2013:13
QUALITY INTERPRETATION
• has a strong theme,
• is well organized,
• is relevant,
• is enjoyable.
Ham, 2013
I call this a TORE model.
TORE - THEME
Speedwell Cavern was not only the most
unprofitable lead mine in the world, but it also
reminds us of industry that brought death to
many poor families
Michal Medek: Environmental Interpretation 20.10.2019
Lesson 1 4
TORE - MAIN THEME
• simplifies preparation of interpretive programme
• eliminates fragmented experience (supports
concentrated attention)
• eliminates information overload
• creates logical frame for visitors‘ experiences
• strong main theme
– high probability to adress programme participants (=>
provoke thinking)
Exercise
Choose one main theme about brown bear and devise themes:
Topic: brown bear
Possible main themes:
– Brown bear is again migrating to parts of Europe where he was
made extinct.
– Brown bear survives because of its excellent foraging skills.
– Brown bear illustrates, how humans change their attitudes
towards nature.
– Brown bear was part of life and beliefs of our ancestors.
– Brown bear is overcoming fear and forages close to humans.
– ...
Exercise
Create themes to a chosen main theme about brown bear.
Example – main theme:
Brown bear is again migrating to parts of Europe
where he was made extinct.
Themes:
• Brown bear is migrating because humans changed their opinion
about them.
• Brown bear is migrating because weaker males are pushed away
from their territory by stronger ones.
• Brown bear is well prepared for migration because it can walk up to
50 km a day.
Exercise
Choose a topic and create 3-4 possible main
themes for interpretation
TORE – HI IS ORGANIZED
• we are more reactive to information we understand,
• new information are much better retained, if within
logical structure (= are easy to follow)
• we are not able to make sense out of more than 4
ideas
****
********
++++****
MENTAL CAPACITY
• George Miller (1956): „on average people are
capable of making sense out of only five to
nine separate and new ideas at one time“
• Nelson Cowan (2001) – revised to 3 to 4
Michal Medek: Environmental Interpretation 20.10.2019
Lesson 1 5
Exercise
Create themes to each of your main themes.
TORE – RELEVANT
• Interpretation is meaningful
– resonates with my knowledge = is
within my context,
– I can understand the message.
• Interpretation is personal
– touches my emotions = uses universal concepts = extreme
emotions (love, heroism, friendship) & basic biological
imperatives (birth, death, hunger, mystery, fascination with
uncertainity)
Universals Mental frames
• The concept comes from semantic linguistic and was
developed in 1970s
• “The frame idea is this. There are certain schemata or
frameworks of concepts or terms which link together as
a system, which impose structure or coherence on
some element of human experience...” (Fillmore
1975:123).
• The frame is kind of script that brings with a word,
story or a metaphore all we know factually and
procedurally about the word or situation. This may
include how we feel about it, and in this way
frames can activate values.
Mental frames
Neuroscience tells us that each of the long-term
concepts that structure how we think are not things
that can be changed just by someone telling us a
fact. We may be presented with fact, but for us
to make sense of them, they have to fit what is
already in the brain. Otherwise facts go in and then
they go right back out. They are not heard, or they
are not accepted as facts. Then we label the fact
as irrational, crazy, or stupid.
Lakoff, G. (2004)
FRAMES - EXAMPLES
war offender armies battles guns victory
crime criminal courts trials laws justice
9/11 and the ‘War on Terror’
Brought up by Lakoff, G. (2008) The Political Mind. New York: Penguin
‘War’ and ‘crime’ represent deep frames.
Michal Medek: Environmental Interpretation 20.10.2019
Lesson 1 6
EXAMPLE – FRAMED MESSAGE
Rámce zásadně ovlivňují náš způsob
interpretace informací a jednání.
Frames - examples
Scarcity
Amount of
freshwater
on Earth
Difficult life
(poverty)
Importance
of water in
nature
Changing of
water cycles
by humans
Responsi-
bility
Natural
resource
Asset /
value
Fight for
water
Topic = water
Saving of
water
Water
management
Resource
defence
MENTAL FRAMES WHAT FRAMES CAN DO
Frames can:
 encode meaningful stories with one word
 provide orientation but also create illusions
 trigger values but also hinder them
Frames vary across time, across cultures and
across social milieux.
WHAT VALUES CAN DO
Values can:
 serve as motivators
 guide perception
 transcend actions
Personal values imply ratings and
might be quite resistant to change.
Valumap IE trainer course 16 June 2018
Michal Medek: Environmental Interpretation 20.10.2019
Lesson 1 7
Value map IE trainer course 16 June 2018
The value circle
Based on:
Schwartz, S. H. (1992)
‘Universals in the content
and structure of values:
theory and empirical tests in
20 countries’. In
Advances in Experimental
Social Psychology (Vol. 25).
ed. by Zanna, M. New York:
Academic Press: 1-65
Interpret Europe: Certification course for interpretive trainers (CIT)
Bibliography
• Beck, L., Cable, T. (2002) Interpretation for the 21st Century. Champaign IL: Sagamore Publishing
• Bateson, G. (1973) Steps to an Ecology of Mind, London: Paladin
• Carter, J. ed (2001) A Sense of Place – An Interpretive Planning Handbook. [online] Tourism and the Environment Initiative, Inverness. Available
from < http://www.scotinterpnet.org.uk> v ČR vyšlo doplněné jako Ptáček, L. et al (2004): Interpretace místního dědictví. Brno: Veronica pro
Nadaci Partnerství
• Cowan, N. (2001) The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24:
87-185
• Čížková, J. (2004) Vývojová psychologie. Ostrava: Ostravská univerzita, Pedagogická fakulta
• Ham, S. (2013) Interpretation – Making a Difference on Purpose. Golden CO: Fulcrum Publishing
• Jarvis, P. et al (1998) The Theory and Practice of Learning. London: Kogan Page
• Miller, G. (1956) The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review
63(2):81-97.
• Race, P. (2010) Making Learning Happen: A Guide for Post-Compulsory Education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
• Schwartz, S. H. (1992) ‘Universals in the content and structure of values: theory and empirical tests in 20 countries’. In Advances in Experimental
Social Psychology (Vol. 25). ed. by Zanna, M. New York: Academic Press: 1-65
• Schwartz, S. H. (2006) Basic Human Values: Theory, measurement and applications. Revue francaise de sociologie (Vol. 42), 249-288.
• Tilden, F. (2007) 4th edn ed. by Craig R. B. Interpreting Our Heritage. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press
• Vygotskij, L. (2004) Psychologie myšlení a řeči. Výbor z díla, uspořádal J. Průcha. 1. vyd. Praha : Portál