Interpretive Tips and Tricks — Questions, questions, questions!

Daniel Williford, State Park Interpreter II, Cannabis Watershed Protection Program, Interpretation and Education Division

Questions: Momentarily Unanswerable Questions and Question Crowd Sourcing

As the program was wrapping up, it was a question about allelopathy that stumped me. We all stood there on the trail where the coast redwood trees, and the California bay trees seemed to be separated by an imaginary line on the forest floor. On either side of the line, the respective trees were remarkably dominant. Look one way it was almost all bay trees, look the other almost all redwoods. “Allelopathy?” someone asked.

“The Giant” at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

In the wide variety of programs that interpreters lead, we are met with lots of questions. What a great way to engage with our audience, hearing what they want to know about, what has captured their interest in the park and/or during our programs. Sometimes questions come that we may not have the time to fully answer or may not know the answer to at all. I call these momentarily unanswerable questions. While it is always ok to say, “I don’t know”, it is helpful to provide an opportunity to find it out. Doing so could benefit both you and the visitor as well as your program.

Here are some lessons learned concerning momentarily unanswerable questions.

Daniel Williford delivering a Junior Ranger Program and, undoubtedly, answering many questions along the way.

Postcards

When I first began as a seasonal interpreter leading in-person programs, this was the main go-to in following up on questions park visitors had that couldn’t be answered on the spot. I’d have postcards in my pack, the question-asking visitor would write their question on it along with their address. When time permitted I would find out the answer, write it on the postcard and drop it in the mail.

Email and Visitor Engagement

Receiving a postcard from the park interpreter a few weeks after your park experience is a fantastic gift to receive. However, for me, at some point this became impractical, things got busy, the solution was to pivot to a new way.

I flipped the scenario. When asked a momentarily unanswerable question, I encouraged the park visitor to find the answer. Giving them my email address, I asked them to send me what they found out. This worked well! During those seasonal days, I received about a dozen or so emails each summer. Each time, the message included what a great time they had in the park and always expressed thanks for my interest in their question. My programs benefited as well with some new and sometimes deeper information. This was also a great use for the abundance of business cards I had!

Crowd Sourcing

Over time you may start to notice the same questions being asked along with some patterns during your interpretive programs. Use this knowledge and incorporate into your programs. When I was leading PORTS programs, there was a noticeable number of 2nd grade students wanting to know about climate change. Specifically what they had heard about animals not being able to make their own shells due to something happening to the ocean and the climate. This was an easy pattern to notice. I then slightly retooled my program to include this information for each 2nd grade program. I wasn’t going to wait for those questions anymore. This freed up our end-of-the-program question time for other things the students wanted to know. Feedback from teachers was positive! Many of them felt they had a hard time explaining this to their students and were very appreciative of having an “expert” explain.

A pattern I had noticed, especially with school groups (both in-person and virtual) was that lot of these questions had to do with environmental problems (plastic pollution, climate change, etc.). Students are asking us about these things because they have sense of trust that we know the answer and will clearly explain it to them. This is a great service we can provide! I encourage you to use these opportunities, momentarily unanswerable questions and question crowd sourcing, to strengthen your programs and connections to your audience.

Daniel Williford keeping a group of Junior Rangers in rapt attention, pouring over a Junior Ranger Logbook.

Now back to the bay redwood zone. “Allelopathy?!? I don’t know, tell me more!” I responded. The visitor let me know they had only heard of it but thought that could be a reason for this marked difference in vegetation. This was back in the postcard era of my career, so I got their address and question and did some research! I found out that allelopathy is when a plant releases chemicals that can help or hurt other plants nearby. Research suggests that this is most likely not what is happening between the redwoods and bays, and perhaps this situation has to do more with available light and space. Nonetheless, from that point on, it sure made for an interesting trail stop to ponder this “line” in the forest and the fascinating relationships taking place in nature.