Agricultural Educators’ Adoption of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL): Effects of Beliefs

Abstract

Agricultural education is responsible for preparing future generations to advance agriculture in a rapidly changing world. How can agricultural education best prepare students to be innovative problem-solvers who can keep up with these changes? Perhaps educators can create learning experiences that allow students to uncover material through their own questioning and experimentation using inquiry-based learning (IBL). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects personal agricultural educators’ beliefs about agricultural education, self-efficacy, and context have on adopting IBL. Agricultural educators’ adoption of IBL was significantly affected by degree obtained and the agricultural pathway in which they taught. A positive relationship was demonstrated between both IBL adoption and the orientation to teach substantive and procedural knowledge, with the higher correlation between procedural knowledge and the adoption of IBL. A positive relationship existed between agricultural educators’ perceived ability to implement IBL and the perceived abilities of their students to complete IBL activities. More than 26 percent of the variance in the adoption of IBL among agricultural educators was explained by variables in the structural equation model of this study. Adoption of IBL by agricultural educators needs further research. However, this study indicates beliefs about education, self, and context do affect the adoption of IBL by agricultural educators. Agricultural educators with higher self-efficacy in creating IBL lessons and greater orientation toward teaching procedural knowledge are more likely to adopt IBL in their classrooms. Programming should be developed that impacts beliefs in a way to encourage adoption of IBL.