Instructional design is a design discipline that bridges science and arts-based practices. It has a long history of borrowing from various fields of design. Experience Design (XD) is a relatively new field that holds relevance for instructional design because, as a multidisciplinary approach, XD focuses on creating meaningful user experiences and…

"Experience design" is a term that has risen to the forefront in a variety of professional fields and has relevance for the field of park and recreation. Park and recreation professionals are primarily focused on providing experiences and thus could naturally consider themselves experienced designers. Surprisingly, experience design is…

Humans use space as a lens to navigate and make sense of the world, thus successfully applying spatial concepts is an important life skill. Spatial thinking and developing spatial concepts are core components of school Geography curricula. Teachers teach geographical skills systematically aligning to the curriculum; however, students can struggle…

This article provides a response to the article "Leisure Studies is for Experience, Not Industry," by Harmon (2018). In responding to Harmon's critique, I address two important issues; both could be expanded into full-length articles but are treated only briefly in this response. First, it is critical to clearly understand and…

Affect or emotion for nature can prime environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviors, but for one's love of nature to grow she must physically experience and communicate about nature with others. This study aimed to identify urban park designs that could increase affect for nature in park visitors by stimulating their desire to communicate…

Citizen Science programs create a bi-directional flow of knowledge between scientists and citizen volunteers; this flow democratizes science in order to create an informed public (Bonney et al. 2014; Brown, Kelly, and Whitall 2014). This democratization is a fundamental part of creating a science that can address today's pressing environmental,…

Research in the learning sciences is often motivated by the goal of shaping a better future through design. Architects and urban planners share this goal, and the history of their more ambitious designs provides clear examples of how attempts to build the future can turn out. After discussing similarities and differences between design in the…

In 1987 the National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy launched the Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour as part of the interpretive program educating visitors about the island and its history. Using an existing format made possible several years previously by Sony Walkman™ technology, the designers framed this individual, and innovative,…

A park design "walkshop" was facilitated by a lecturer as part of an undergraduate unit in youth participation at an Australian tertiary college. Inspired by the work of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin (1916-2009), the "scored" walkshop simulated a consultation walk designed to engage students in the hypothetical…

The material rhetoric of physical locations like the Museum Park at the North Carolina Museum of Art creates "spaces of attention" wherein visitors are invited to experience the landscape around them as a series of enactments that identify the inside/outside components of sub/urban existence, as well as the regenerative/transformative…

Human beings are influenced by design every day through continuous contact with functional form in and through visual culture. They encounter a continuous current of such new styles as clothing fashions, architecture, furniture and advertisements. The American pursuit of happiness has become related to an increasing flow of products and…