VISITOR PRECONCEPTIONS AND MEANING-MAKING AT PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK

When observing the spectacular natural landscapes of our National Parks, how do visitors make meaning of the geology? Deeper understanding of visitor preconceptions can inform the design and implementation of more effective geoscientific displays and interpretative programs. We investigated visitors' ideas about geological processes, features, and history at Petrified Forest National Park in northern Arizona, a place renowned for its colorful badlands and fossil wealth. With the cooperation of Park staff, data were collected from semi-structured interviews of 80 visitor groups (n = 235) encountered at a popular viewpoint locality. Volunteer subjects were asked to explain the formation of the landscape, describe the depositional environments coded in the rocks (including the origin of fossil logs) and account for the present high elevation of the Colorado Plateau. These results were analyzed using the Verbal Analysis methodology of Chi (1997). In the absence of accurate geological understanding of the landscape, visitors frequently used familiar-place knowledge, based on specific places with which the visitor has had prior experience. Qualitative analyses indicate that visitors variously make meaning by (1) relating landscapes to familiar places; (2) building on religious explanations; (3) superimposing past landscapes on modern ones; and (4) patching together bits of information from media sources. Visitors were also found to have difficulty in visualizing climate changes. We recommend that future exhibits and interpretative programs incorporate content and activities that directly address these preconceptions.