Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
in Yehliu Geopark
C.H. Chu, Y.J. Guo, C.C. Chen, C.H. Hsu, Y.H. Wang & Y.C. Wang
Aletheia University, Taiwan, P.R. China
ABSTRACT: One of the major missions of Yehliu Geopark is to convey educational and inspiring
information of geology and environment to visitors. Unfortunately, in many cases, although the interpret-
ers own plenty knowledge about exhibitions in their mind, they have very limited time to convey their
knowledge within the tolerant time duration of audiences. For organizing the interpretation contents in
adequate length, exploring the time-satisfaction relationships for interpretation topics is very crucial for
the Geopark. Hence, this research aimed to explore the time-satisfaction relationships of interpretation
topics in Yehliu Geopark. The empirical analyses showed that, among the 17 standardized interpretation
topics, the satisfaction and interpretation time had a significantly positive correlation across 11 topics.
Time-satisfaction relationships were not statistically significant for the remaining six topics. The findings
of this study suggested that the interpreters should focus on enriching the interpretation contents of the
11 topics with positive time-satisfaction correlation to improve the experience and the effect upon the
geological and environmental education for the visitors to Yehliu Geopark.
Keywords
:
satisfaction, Geopark, interpretation, environmental education
1 INTRODUCTION
however they have very limited time to convey
their knowledge within the tolerant time duration
of audiences.
On the other hand, some studies suggest that
the more contents do not guarantee higher inter-
pretation quality (1998). Hence, for organizing the
interpretation contents in adequate length, explor-
ing the time-satisfaction relationship for interpre-
tation topics is very crucial for the Geopark.
Since the Declaration of the United Nations Con-
ference on the Human Environment was issued in
1972, environmental education has already become
one of the international topics and responsibilities
of the nations around the world.
As a result, Taiwan, in 2010, in order to increase
the sense of environmental protection of citizens
to achieve the goal of sustainable development,
Taiwan has passed ' the educational law of the
environment ' in 2010. This legislation shows the
attention on and commitment to the environmen-
tal protection of the Taiwan Government.
Yehliu Geopark, located in North Coast of
Taiwan, has become a popular site for sightseeing
and outdoor education due to the landform of the
coast and rich natural resources including animals,
plant, ecosystem, and a variety of geological land-
scape. One of the major missions of a Geopark is
to convey educational and inspiring information
of geology and environment to visitors. Providing
a well-designed interpretation service is crucial to
Geoparks.
For an interpretation service provider, how
to design interpretation contents that cater for
the needs of audiences for a guided walk is an
important issue. In many cases, interpreters own
plenty knowledge about exhibitions in their mind;
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Interpretation is an educational activity which
aims to reveal meanings and relationships through
the use of original objects, by firsthand experi-
ence, and by illustrative media, rather than simply
to communicate factual information (Tilden &
Heritage, 1977). Mahaffey (1970) described inter-
pretation as a process of activity, which commu-
nicates the concepts between the human and the
environment.
Interpretation can be a manner of managing the
recreational sites. Interpretation provides the func-
tions of increasing recreational benefits, protecting
the resources, protecting the visitors, and enforce-
ment (Sharpe, 1982). Providing information and
education are two of the major missions of inter-
pretation (Grinder & McCoy, 1985). For the design
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