On this week’s podcast episode, I have a conversation with two Explainer-Facilitators from the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s storied palace of science, art, and perception. Gwen Payne and Gianna Calamar both participate in the Exploratorium’s diversity and inclusion efforts, and we talk a lot today about how including everyone improves the visitor experience and, of course, increases learning.

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On this week’s podcast, I talk with Elise McFarland, an Interpretation and Education Manager for the California State Park system. In her far-ranging job, she’s responsible for several parks’ cultural resources and, of course, many levels and modes of interpretation. 

Like many informal educators – especially outdoor educators in regional parks – Elise calls herself an interpreter. Since Freeman Tilden published Interpreting Our Heritage in 1957, the idea of interpretation as a cultural activity has spread throughout the community of naturalists and museum educators and spawned organizations like the National Association for Interpretation. On the blog this week, I describe some of this history and current state of the term: Thematic Interpretation as an Art and a Science