Environmental Education Commons^™

Evaluating Short Term And Long Term Retention Of Experiences Associated With An Interpretive School Field Trip, Jim Sibthorp, Doug Knapp

Research in Outdoor Education

The strong evidence that an interpre­tive experience can promote initial knowl­edge retention sets up a more difficult ques­tion: how long do these students hold on to . this information? More precisely, what do the students remember one month or more after the initial treatment? Are these memo­ries associated with interpreter-derived pro­gram objectives or tertiary variables such as social or environmental factors? Can the memories from this experience impact a stu­dent's attitude toward the resource site? These are questions that are looked at through this pilot study evaluating short term and long term retention of experiences associated with an interpretive school …