Thematic Interpretation Approach in Environmental Adult Education

Sarawak, a state of Malaysia has 30 national parks, six wildlife sanctuaries and eight nature reserves with 15 of the totally protected areas opened to the public. The national parks, nature reserves and wildlife centres draw tourists who are attracted to the nature for inspirational, educative, cultural and recreational purposes expecting a degree of adventure thus generating income to the local communities. As impact of tourism could degrade natural non-renewable resources, an environmental education for the park guides was included in the syllabus of the Certificate in Park Guiding in Sarawak's National Parks and Nature Reserves conducted by Universiti Teknologi MARA the training provider for Sarawak Forestry designed toward reflective-learning, experience and reflection based on thematic interpretation. The initiative is to enhance their professionalism by improving their awareness, sensitize them to environmental issues, and care about the places. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the effectiveness of learning Ecology using thematic interpretation approach and integrating their traditional ecological knowledge, local ecological knowledge and conventional science from the park guide perspective as adult learner. An analysis of the effectiveness of the course from indicated that all participants regardless of educational background, experience in terms of number of years in guiding and age showed significant differences. Although there was no significant correlation between written and practical assessments, there was a strong correlation of thematic interpretative skills and their cultural background and experiences rather than their educational qualification level. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.