{"pk":65809,"title":"Frameworks and Ladders: National Parks and Protected Areas in the College Classroom","subtitle":null,"abstract":"This paper articulates an approach I’ve developed and refined over several decades for teaching the subject of national parks and protected areas to undergraduate students in the college classroom. A similar approach informs my book-length works, which are geared not just to students and academic peers, but to the general public. Consequently, I believe these ideas may also be useful for public outreach. It involves the use of conceptual frameworks and what I refer to as “ladders.” While the frameworks allow students to better contextualize and identify broad themes in their study of national parks and protected areas, the ladders refer to pedagogic strategies for making rather abstract or historical ideas more tangible, concrete, and meaningful for students. The approach illustrated with examples drawn from a seminar course that I teach on US federal public lands at Gettysburg College. The seminar, in turn, follows the structure outlined in my book, America’s Public Lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[],"section":"Featured Theme Articles","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6pr1b1dd","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Randall","middle_name":"K.","last_name":"Wilson","name_suffix":"","institution":"Gettysburg College","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2026-05-15T14:59:37Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/psf/article/65809/galley/50461/download/"}]}