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Definitions Project
The Definitions Project group met in a series of 4 meetings in 2006 with 20 attendees representing federal agencies, professional organizations, and other NGOs. The following definitions resulted from those meetings.
DEFINITIONS
Accessibility
A general term used to describe the degree to which a facility, program, or product is usable by as wide a group of people as possible.(Adapted from Wikipedia).
Accreditation
The recognition of a program or institution that maintains standards of professional practice.
Action Learning
A process in which a group of people comes together more or less regularly to help each other learn from their experience. (Adapted from Dick, B. (1997)). Related Terms: Action learning and action research Experiential learning, Cooperative learning, Problem based learning, Project based learning, Service learning.
Active Learning
A process that provides opportunities for students to meaningfully talk and listen, write, read, reflect upon and interact with the content, ideas, issues, and concerns of an academic subject. (Adapted from Meyer, C., & Jones, T. B.(1993) Promoting active learning: Strategies for the college classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.P6)
Adult Learning
The art and science of helping adults (androgogy) learn as [contrasted to] pedagogy as the art and science of teaching children. (Adapted from Smith, M. K. (1996; 1999) 'Andragogy', the encyclopedia of informal education)
Adventure-Based Education
The use of cooperative games, initiative activities, trust activities, high impact activities, and expeditions to effect a change in thinking (including exposure to new skills and generating awareness).
Advocacy
The act or process of defending, promoting and/or sustaining a cause, ideal, or proposal.
Affective
An attribute of the human experience that describes feelings and/or emotions and sometimes attitudes or values. Related Terms: Outcome, Objective Affective Learning - The process by which learners gain an ability to deal in a positive way with their emotions and values. (Adapted from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development). Related Terms: Cognitive
Alignment
The effort to ensure that what teachers teach is in accord with what the curriculum says will be taught and what is assessed on official tests. (Adapted from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
Assessment
Measurement of a learner’s performance. (Adapted from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development). Related Terms: Evaluation, Evaluation Research, Visitor Studies
Audience
A person or group of persons for whom messages and/or services are designed or delivered. Synonymous terms might include: visitors, learners, customers, users, recreationists, stakeholders, guests, buyers, consumers, clients, patrons.
Audience Research
The systematic gathering of information (descriptive, psychological, contextual) about audiences or visitors. Related Terms: Visitor Studies, Evaluation, Needs Assessment, Demand Analysis, Human Dimensions
Authority of the Resource
An interpretive approach that cites the resource-based reasons for management policy when dealing with undesirable audience behaviour. (Concept originated by Colorado State University professor
George Wallace)
Bandwagon Effect
The observation that people often do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. The effect is often pejoratively referred to as herding instinct, particularly as applied to adolescents. Without examining the merits of the particular thing, people tend to “follow the crowd”. The bandwagon effect is the reason for the bandwagon fallacy's success. In psychology, the bandwagon effect refers to well-documented behavioral patterns among people and has potentially infinite applications. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as fads clearly do, with "the probability of any individual adopting it increasing with the proportion who have already done so." [1] Thus, as more people come to believe in something, we can expect others to hop on the bandwagon, regardless of whether the underlying evidence is conclusive or not. Related Words: also known as social proof and closely related to opportunism.
Benefit
Lasting, positive and meaningful change over time that results from multiple and diverse learning experiences; refers to collective sociological, psychological, economic, and/or environmental outcomes of education and learning.
Best Practice
Commendable actions and philosophies that demonstrate an awareness of standards and can be replicated.
Brain-Based Learning
Approaches to schooling that educators believe are in accord with recent research on the brain and human learning. (Adapted from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
Capacity Building
Activities that improve an organization’s ability to achieve its mission or a person’s ability to define and realize his or her goals or do his or her job more effectively. (Adapted from Linnell, D. (2002). Evaluation of Capacity Building: Lessons from the Field. Washington DC: Alliance for Nonprofit Management)
Certification
The recognition of an individual who maintains a standard of professional practice. Sometimes used to recognize a program, product or service that maintains or meets an established standard.
Character Education
To develop students socially, ethically, and academically by infusing character development into every aspect of the school culture and curriculum. To help students develop good character, which
includes knowing, caring about, and acting upon core ethical values such as respect, responsibility, honesty, fairness, and compassion. (Adapted from Character Education Partnership)
Citizen Science
A term used for a project that aims to make scientific discoveries, verify scientific hypotheses, or gather data which can be used for scientific purposes, and which involves large numbers of people,
many of whom have no specific scientific training. Citizen science projects are often run by scientific institutions, research non-governmental organizations, or educational establishments.
Cognitive
An attribute of the human experience that describes knowledge, belief, facts.
Cognitive Learning
The process by which learners acquire knowledge, beliefs facts and thinking skills. Related Terms: Affective learning, Outcome, Objective
Communication
A process by which information is exchanged through a common system of symbols, signs, language, or behavior.
Community of Practice
Collective, social learning that results in practices that reflect both the pursuit of the learning enterprise and their attendant social relations. (Adapted from Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of
Practice: Learning as a Social System. Systems Thinker)
Conservation
- Resource—An ethic of planned management of a natural resource or a particular ecosystem based on balancing resource production, use, allocation, and preservation to ensure the sustainability of the resource.
- Object—Maintenance and preservation of works of art, artifacts or objects, their protection from future damage, deterioration, or neglect, and the repair or renovation of works that have deteriorated or been damaged.
Related Terms: Preservation; Stewardship
Competencies
Prescribed standards that enable people to perform successfully by achieving specific outcomes and completing tasks effectively. A competency may consist of knowledge, skill, ability, attitudes, values,
and/or personal characteristics.
Constructivism
A theory of learning, derived from the theories of Jean Piaget, which suggests individuals actively construct new knowledge from their experiences by building upon and modifying prior knowledge and experience. (Adapted from Wikipedia)
Cooperating Association
Revenue producing non-profit or not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting the educational and preservation goals of the partnering agency. (Adapted from 2001 USFWS Volunteer
Report, page 10; Association for Partners of Public Lands; and Natural Resources Management Gateway). Related Terms: Friends group
Cooperative Education
A program that combines classroom studies with paid, productive work experience in a field related to an individual’s career goals. (Adapted from National Commission on Cooperative Education)
Cooperative Learning
A process that involves students working in teams to accomplish a common goal, under conditions that promote positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction,
appropriate use of collaborative skills, and group processing. (Adapted from R.M. Felder and R. Brent, Cooperative Learning in Technical Courses: Procedures, Pitfalls, and Payoffs. ERIC Document
Reproduction Service, ED 377038 (1994))
Critical Appraisal
The overall observations and expert judgment of exhibition, program, or interpretive product by a professional evaluator (or panel of professional evaluators) to identify obvious or suspected problems which can be immediately corrected or studied later with visitor input. (Adapted from Screven, Shettel, Bitgood, 1993)
Critical Mass
A sociodynamic term to describe the existence of sufficient momentum in a social system such that the momentum becomes self-sustaining and fuels further growth. As a simple example, consider a big city. When one person stops and looks at the sky, nothing will happen. The other people will go after their own business. When three people stop and look up the sky, perhaps some people will turn around, then go along. But there's only a small number (which depends on the culture, the daytime, the width of the street and other factors) of people needed -- say, 5 or 7 --, that make other ones stop and look at the sky, too. This number is called "Critical mass" or Tipping Point.
Cultural Landscape
A traditionally or historically used and/or modified geographic area. Use or modification may be physical, spiritual or cosmological. (Adapted from The Cultural Landscape Foundation). Related Terms: Historic preservation, Cultural resources, Cultural resource management
Cultural Resource
A general term used to refer to archaeological sites, historic structures, monuments, artifacts, traditional cultural properties, and/or other human expressions of ethic or national identity. They are places or objects of local or national heritage. Related Terms: Historic preservation; Cultural landscape; Cultural resource management; Heritage resource
Cultural Resources Management
The process by which the impacts to cultural resources are considered and the effects of potential impacts are mitigated as required under historic preservation laws and statutes. Management
includes protection, stabilization, and interpretation. Related Terms: Cultural resource, Historic preservation, Cultural landscape
Curator
A person knowledgeable about and trained in a field related to the collection in his or her care and is responsible for maintaining the overall well-being and scope of that collection. (Adapted from Curator’s Code of Ethics, 1996 Standing Professional Committee of Curators, American Association of Museums)
Curriculum
Typically refers to a written plan outlining what students will be taught (a course of study). Curriculum documents often also include detailed directions or suggestions for teaching the content.
Curriculum may refer to all the courses offered at a given school, or all the courses offered at a school in a particular area of study. (Adapted from Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development)
Demand Analysis
The deliberate and systematic process of gathering information and data about current and potential visitors for program and administrative decision-making. Adapted from Haas and Wells, 2005. Related Terms: Audience Research, Human Dimensions, Needs Assessment
Differentiated Instruction
A form of instruction that offers several different learning experiences in response to students’ varied needs. (Adapted from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
Discovery Center
A facility where people are encouraged to learn about a cultural or natural resource using hands-on, inquiry, and experiential methods.
Docent
A volunteer or paid educator trained to further the public's understanding of the natural, cultural, and historical collections or sites of an institution or facility. (Adapted from Wikipedia)
Ecosystem Management
The integration of ecological, economic and social principles to manage biological and physical systems in a manner that safeguards the long-term ecological integrity, natural diversity, and
productivity of the landscape. (Adapted from Bureau of Land Management)
Education
Education is the process of developing an individuals’ knowledge, values and skills and encompasses both teaching and learning. (Adapted from Wikipedia)
Educational Philosophy
The study of the purpose, process, history, nature and ideals of education. This can be within the context of education as a social institution or more broadly as the process of human existential
growth, i.e., how it is that our understanding of the world is continually transformed (be it from facts, social customs, experiences, or even our own emotions). (Adapted from Wikipedia)
Educational Theory
An organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena of or relating to education. (Adapted from Wordnet.Princeton.edu)
Educator
A person involved with the overall process or practice of facilitating learning. Educators often specialize in specific content areas or academic disciplines.
Edutainment (also educational entertainment or entertainment-education)
A form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse. Edutainment typically seeks to instruct or socialize its audience by embedding lessons in some familiar form of entertainment: television programs, computer and video games, films, music, websites, multimedia software, etc. Examples might be guided nature tours that entertain while educating participants on animal life and habitats, or a video game that teaches children conflict resolution skills.
Electronic Media
Technologically delivered content.
Environmental Education
A learning process that increases people’s knowledge and awareness about the environment and associated challenges, develops the necessary skills and expertise to address the challenges, and
fosters attitudes, motivations, and commitments to make informed decisions and take responsible action. (UNESCO, Tbilisi Declaration, 1978)
Environmental Media
Anything that carries substances or transmits physical actions; i.e., sounds can be transmitted via air, water, and earth; pollen and seeds are commonly carried and distributed by wind, and/or physical
contact with other entities; pollution can be moved through air or water currents.
Exhibit
An organized arrangement of text, graphics, and objects that communicate a message or theme. Outside exhibits are often called waysides and may include interpretive signs, kiosks, or other presentation methods developed for use in the outdoors.
Exhibit Design
The process of conceiving an exhibit or other media to convey a message identified by a specific interpretive goal.
Exhibit Development
The process by which exhibit designs becomes reality; i.e., fabrication or production.
Environmental Learning Center
A facility where visitors can learn about natural and cultural resources and how they interact over time.
Evaluation (Front-End, Formative, Remedial, Summative)
A judgment of worth or merit; an appraisal of value; the careful appraisal and study of something to determine its feasibility or effectiveness at meeting its goals and objectives. Evaluation is typically divided into four temporal stages:
i) Front- End
ii) Formative
iii) Remedial
iv) Summative
Evaluation
Related Terms: Logic Model, Goals, Objectives, Outputs, Outcomes, Impacts, Visitor Studies
Experiential Education
A philosophy and methodology, in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills and clarify values.
(Association for Experiential Education)
Experiential Learning
The engagement in some activity, reflection upon the activity, critically derives some useful insight from the analysis, and incorporates the result through a change in understanding and/or behavior.
(Adapted from David A. Kolb, Experiential Learning: Experience as a Source of Learning and Development, 1984, 3-4)
Explainer
A person who is knowledgeable about a resource and is skilled in teaching others about that resource. Related Terms: Docent, Educator, Guide
Facilitator
A person who encourages and enables a process, such as learning, planning and training, interpreting or teaching. Related Terms: Docent, Educator
First-person Living History Interpretation
The act of portraying a person from the past (real or composite). The intent of this style is to present the attitudes, briefs, viewpoints, language, and mannerisms of another period in history in a way that is immediate, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Through the portrayal of a character they create for the visitor the illusion that their historic personage has returned to life. Also known as “character interpretation” or “first-person interpretation.” (Association for Living History Farms And Museums)
Formal Education/Learning
The hierarchically structured, chronologically graded ‘education system’, running from primary school through the university and including, in addition to general academic studies, a variety of specialized programs and institutions for full-time technical and professional training. (Adapted from The Encyclopedia of Informal Education, 2006). Related Terms: Nonformal Education/Learning, Informal Education/Learning
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