History
The thematic approach to interpretation was popularized in the book Environmental Interpretation (1992) by Dr. Sam H. Ham (University of Idaho) which has become standard reading for many students of interpretation and interpretive tour guiding. Prior to Dr. Ham's book, two additional contributors to the field of Interpretation are its founder, Freeman Tilden and his book, Interpreting Our Heritage (1957) and Dr. Grant W. Sharpe (University of Washington) and his work, Interpreting the Environment.
Ham formally presented the thematic approach for the first time in his 1992 book, wherein he outlined the "EROT" (Enjoyable, Relevant, Organized, Thematic) framework. Drawing heavily on persuasive communication research, Ham refined the EROT framework in the early 2000s and renamed it the TORE model of thematic interpretation. The most detailed presentation of the TORE model is in Interpretation-- Making a difference on purpose which Ham published in 2013.
There are obvious parallels between Ham's view of thematic interpretation and those of Freeman Tilden who is widely considered the founder of the field of interpretation. The most important parallel is that both see interpretation as a process aimed at provoking audiences to do their own thinking and thereby develop their own subjective understanding of the world. This is in contrast to the view that interpretation instructs audiences to know or accept the interpreter's understanding of things.
Both Tilden and Ham appear to be strongly influenced by the views of constructivist learning theorists--in particular, those of cognitive constructivist, Jean Piaget, and social constructivist, Lev Vygotsky. In the spirit of constructivist learning theory, both Piaget and Vygotsky saw learning as the result of knowledge that is created inside a learner's own head, rather than being "put" there by an educator. Both Tilden, and later, Ham, advocated a very similar view in the field of interpretation. According to both of them, when interpretation is strongly relevant to its audience, it is likely to provoke thinking and elaboration.
Read more about this topic: Thematic Interpretation
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