Valuing free-choice learning in national parks

Large-scale studies across the National Park Service (NPS) sites are currently underway to better understand what students in these programs learn and how they shape the children's sense of self and their connection to history, nature, or society (Powell, Stern, and Frensley 2020). Focusing mostly on learning outcomes from programmed activities for youth may considerably underestimate the full contribution that national parks make to the learning ecosystem of the United States (and, given the large number of foreign visitors, that of the world). Sometimes this learning happens within the walls of brick-and-mortar settings such as science centers, natural history museums, zoos, aquariums, or planetariums. Park experiences are usually a mixture of designed experiences, such as those delivered by visitor centers, guided tours, or interpretive signs, combined with activities that are fully under the control of the visitor, such as conversations about biology, geology, or history while hiking or camping.