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The Effect of Thematic Interpretation on a Child's Knowledge of an Interpretive Program

In the field of interpretation, thematic interpretation is a widely accepted technique used to increase knowledge gain from interpretive programs with educational goals and objectives. Although the approach has theoretical grounding in cognitive psychology, social psychology, and persuasive communication, it has not been formally tested in a field interpretive setting. This study addressed this lack of empirical evidence by comparing children's knowledge gained from a thematic versus a non-thematic interpretive program. It also compared type of knowledge gained by evaluating three different levels of learning: recognition, recall, and application. The results supported the use of thematic interpretation and program construction. The thematic group not only showed a significant increase in ability to recall and apply information, but was also three times more likely to identify the theme and main points of the program, when compared with the non-thematic group. No differences between groups were found for the recognition measure. This indicated that thematic interpretation is effective at encouraging higher levels of thinking and learning and highlights the importance of matching correct evaluation measures with learning objectives. Further management and research implications are discussed.