Overview
The National Park Service (NPS)
continues to provide the public with opportunities
for enjoyment and inspire the highest quality visitor
experience of parks as possible. This page provides
you with a variety of outstanding links and resources
for teachers to help supplement your curriculum,
and students to assist with great information for
your assignments!
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Vision
Interpretation and education is a primary
organizational purpose of the National
Park Service, essential to achieving our
mission of mission of protecting and preserving
our nation's natural and cultural resources.
We envision a national park system that
is recognized as a significant resource
for learning, where people and organizations
collaborate on teaching and learning about
the interconnections of human culture and
nature, natural systems, the values of
America's diverse heritage, and the principles
of democracy. Parks are an integral part
of the nation's educational system, providing
unique and powerful individual learning
experiences that help shape understanding
and inspire personal values.
~ National Park Service
June 20, 2002 |
The NPS Interpretation and Education Division has
chosen the theme of Connecting People to Parks
to help focus on this goal. Four key education
program recommendations from this division are
as follows:
- Expand the relevance of the National
Park System to diverse audiences
- Increase Connections between
the NPS and educators
- Increase the skills of NPS employees
and the effectiveness of programs
- Help build a national ethic of
stewardship
As declared in the "Renewing Our
Education Mission" report, the educational programs
within the NPS are designed to enrich and enhance
learning, nurturing people's appreciation for parks
and other special places, and therefore helping
preserve America's heritage. To accomplish this,
the NPS, will continue to develop - and partner
with others to create - interpretive and educational
programs according to the following eight guiding
principles. National Park Service programs are:
- place-based;
- learner-centered;
- celebrate diversity;
- widely accessible;
- based on sound scholarship content,
methods, and audience analysis;
- help people understand and participate
in our civil democratic society;
- incorporate ongoing evaluation
for continual program improvement and effectiveness;
- collaborative.
Building capacity,
creating opportunities, and expanding
partnerships and outreach are three primary
goals to help us strengthen this framework
of guiding principles. Additionally,
national strategic actions are in progress
to help us advance the renewal of our
education mission.
Examples include asset mapping,
identify strategic education partners,
design and produce a business plan for
education, recognize and share best practices
and program evaluation. Other significant
priorities include significantly expand
use of the Internet, expand State NPS education
program guides, develop a communications
strategy and showcase our successes. Meeting
the needs of students and educators at
all levels is an essential ingredient of
achieving our goals. |
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"Park-based learning is powerful - and
transformative. People more readily retain
information, grasp meanings, and adopt
new behaviors and values when directly
involved with cultural and natural heritage
resources and sites. Park Service education
informs uniquely about the civic experience
of our country and the complex, diverse
ecology of our world. It encourages respect
for our experience, as a nation, and invites
stewardship. It is an organizational function
that nurtures an aware citizenry, engaged
to a greater extent in American public
life. It is a mission of high national
purpose. The National Park Service is committed
to extend its leadership in education,
to build on what is in place and to pursue
new relationships and opportunities to
make national parks even more meaningful
in the life of the nation."
~ Fran Mainella, Director, National Park Service
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