Trent Wells, Jay Solomonson, Mark Hainline, Bryan Rank, Matthew Wilson, Skyler Rinker, Steven Chumbley
{"title":"Technical agriculture skills teachers need to teach courses in the animal systems pathway","authors":"Trent Wells, Jay Solomonson, Mark Hainline, Bryan Rank, Matthew Wilson, Skyler Rinker, Steven Chumbley","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.117","url":null,"abstract":"Fundamentally, agricultural teacher education programs and their faculty are tasked with preparing competent teachers capable of teaching students enrolled in public schools. As part of their design, an important facet of these programs is ensuring pre-service teachers are ready to provide educational opportunities in aspects of school-based agricultural education (SBAE), including teaching technical agriculture skills to students. We used a three-round Delphi technique to identify the technical agriculture skills SBAE teachers in Illinois and Iowa need to effectively teach courses in the Animal Systems pathway within the broader Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR) Career Cluster. Thirty-four SBAE teachers who were nominated by state-level SBAE leaders and other SBAE teachers in their states contributed data for our study. Twenty-two teachers participated in all three rounds. In total, we identified 35 technical agriculture skill items. To help ensure teachers are competent and prepared to teach courses in the Animal Systems pathway, we outline several approaches agricultural teacher educators should contemplate: (1) facilitating opportunities to foster technical agriculture skill development within agricultural teacher education programs, (2) collaborating with agricultural faculty who teach technical agriculture courses to pre-service teachers, and (3) using our list of 35 skills to facilitate future scholarly investigation on the topic. While not generalizable beyond the SBAE teachers in these two states, we do believe our findings have value for SBAE stakeholders. To overcome the limitation of generalizability and to delve deeper into teachers’ technical agriculture skill needs, we suggest that our study be replicated in other states.","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136342875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Krysti L. Kelley, Marshall A. Baker, J. Shane Robinson, Avery L. Culbertson
{"title":"Understanding families’ motivation for engaging in livestock exhibitions: A collective instrumental case study","authors":"Krysti L. Kelley, Marshall A. Baker, J. Shane Robinson, Avery L. Culbertson","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.106","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this collective instrumental case study was to understand the motivational factors that support families’ decisions to exhibit livestock. The expectancy value theory served as the theoretical lens, and a review of literature led to four issues to be explored. Four typical family cases were identified, and interviews were conducted. Five In-Vivo themes were identified: (a) “a family tradition,” (b) “bonds us together,” (c) “on-the-job training for life,” (d) “joys and discomforts of agricultural life,” and (e) “the show industry.” It was concluded that families value tradition, family togetherness, the agricultural community, work ethic, and the development of life skills critical for the success of their children. Winning, as traditionally defined in the show ring, was not the expectation. Rather, families expected to grow together, enjoy their time, and be competitive. The perceived family utility outweighed the noted costs. It was recommended that all stakeholders in the livestock exhibition community identify ways to enhance family involvement and work to reward ethical behaviors.","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136342894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
R. Bud McKendree, Aaron McKim, Olivia Hile, Michael Everett
{"title":"AFNR educators’ experiences in an MA program","authors":"R. Bud McKendree, Aaron McKim, Olivia Hile, Michael Everett","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.22","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.22","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we explored the lived experiences of secondary school agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) teachers enrolled in, or who recently completed a practitioner-oriented master’s degree in AFNR Education at [University]. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, and interviews were informed by Appreciative Inquiry methodology. Ten master’s students completed interviews and data were transcribed verbatim. Analysis followed an inductive, constant comparative approach yielding three themes: synthesis experience a critical component, the Master of Arts (MA) student/teacher identity, and MA students having a need for connectedness and external support. Findings are presented with substantiating participant quotes. Lastly, conclusions and implications are discussed, including the value of the capstone master’s project as well as the need for opportunities to connect while completing a distance graduate program.","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136342768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What’s in a book? An exploration of multicultural extractions within secondary agriculture textbooks","authors":"Tara Rojas, Stacy Vincent","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.114","url":null,"abstract":"Textbooks have the unique ability to provide snapshots of industry norms, including biases that may be present, through real-world applications and depictions of concepts for various subjects defining the individuals, values, concepts, and skills that are considered legitimate in a discipline (Becker & Nilsson, 2021). Using a cross-sectional descriptive study researchers used social semiotics to identify and examine sex and race within secondary agriculture education textbooks from the largest US textbook publishers. The researchers evaluated 34,161 pages, 4,603 photos, and 585 case studies from 58 textbooks. Students of color currently in the secondary agricultural education classroom are not seeing themselves represented in agriculture textbooks as it relates to enrollment in public schools. The absence of females is present among various disciplines in the agriculture field as well. The lack of diversity and representation present in the textbooks is blatant and may send unintended messages to female and BIPOC students within secondary agricultural education classrooms. Further research is needed that explores gender nonconformities, colorism, and intersectionality of race and gender representation in secondary agriculture textbooks.","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136343763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The dualism of interdisciplinarity: A model for agriculture, food, and natural resources education","authors":"Aaron J. McKim, Tiffany Marzolino","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.144","url":null,"abstract":"The term “interdisciplinary” has become increasingly associated with high quality education (Boix Mansilla et al., 2006). Defined as experiences which combine multiple disciplines to form an understanding of a phenomenon, or to solve a problem, interdisciplinary education represents a shift in traditional, disciplinary approaches (Boix Mansilla et al., 2000; Nikitina, 2006). The context of agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) is inherently interdisciplinary ([Author], 2017). Within AFNR learning opportunities (e.g., secondary school classrooms, community workshops), the convergence of science, mathematics, social studies, ethics, English language arts, engineering, and other disciplines is expected in an effort to develop learner understanding of complex natural systems (Scherer et al., 2019). Research in interdisciplinarity suggests educational spaces which combine content from multiple disciplines better prepare learners to sustainably address complex problems like climate change, deforestation, hunger, and water scarcity (Borrego and Newswander, 2010; Jacob, 2015; Klein, 2008). Therefore, preparing learners to think in an interdisciplinary way is critical to giving current and future generations the best chance to address these wicked problems (Newell, 2010).","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136342763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexandra Ikner, D. Barry Croom, Nicholas Fuhrman, Ashley Yopp
{"title":"Student interest in the national council for agricultural education career pathways","authors":"Alexandra Ikner, D. Barry Croom, Nicholas Fuhrman, Ashley Yopp","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.116","url":null,"abstract":"This study describes student interest in the agricultural content pathways established by the National Council for Agricultural Education. Differences exist between male and female students concerning curriculum choices in agriculture, food, and natural resources. Male students were most interested in food products and processing systems, while females averaged the highest interest in animal systems. Females were significantly more interested in animal systems. Males were more interested in power, structural, and technical systems, biotechnology, food products and processing, and agribusiness systems. When considering the students’ race and ethnic background, Native Americans or Alaska Natives reported the most interest in animal systems. Asian students reported the highest interest in natural resource systems. African American students averaged the highest interest in power, structural and technical systems. White Non-Hispanic students reported the highest interest in animal systems. White Hispanic students reported the highest average interest in natural resources. White Non-Hispanic students were significantly more interested in agribusiness systems, animal systems, food products, and processing systems than were African American students. Native American or Alaskan Native students were significantly more interested in animal systems than African American students. This study concluded that male and female students value agricultural curriculum content differently and that the differences were significant in most agricultural content pathways. Students of different races and ethnic backgrounds value agricultural content pathways differently, but most of these differences were insignificant.","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136342767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A quantitative analysis of the perceptions of CTE administrators on the integration of employability skills into agricultural aducation","authors":"William Norris, Kirk Swortzel, OP McCubbins","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.85","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.85","url":null,"abstract":"Preparing students for the workforce is a foundational pillar of education. This study sought to assess the perceptions of CTE administrators in [State A] and [State B] on the importance of agricultural educators integrating various employability skills education into their instruction. Traditionally, the relationship between CTE administrators and agricultural educators has been viewed as important. An understanding of the perceptions of [State A] and [State B] CTE administrators that offer agricultural education in their district could be beneficial in determining the importance of employability skills integration into agricultural education. This study utilized the Perkins Collaborative Resource Network Employability Skills Framework to develop the instrument. CTE administrators were asked to rate each individual employable skill on a 1 to 5 Likert scale with 1 = Not Important at All and 5 = Extremely Important. Construct scores for each employability skill category was calculated using the individual employability skills ratings. The results found that participating CTE administrators perceived all employability skill categories to be Very Important or Extremely Important. The employability skills most valued by CTE administrators included Critical Thinking Skills, Personal Qualities, and Communication Skills. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to ascertain any differences in perception held by CTE administrators in [State A] and [State B]. While the analysis did not return any statistically significant results, it could suggest that CTE administrators in [State A] and [State B] agree on which skills are most valuable for agricultural educators to integrate into their instruction.","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136343310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"That’s not in my position description","authors":"Becky Haddad, None Jonathan Velez, None Josh Stewart, None Haden Botkin","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.156","url":null,"abstract":"While the choice to move to a new school is personal, many play a role in justifying that choice for the mobile teacher. These justifiers—or influencers—make up the socializing network for teachers (in this case, SBAE teachers) in new settings. Our study outlined how mobile SBAE teachers rationalize the choice to change schools and validate career moves. We used a positioning theory approach to discourse to give migrators (teachers who change schools) and influencers a voice. Positioning theory allowed us to situate migrators as they reflected on their choice to change school districts, and influencers as they recounted their interactions with new-to-district SBAE teachers. The purpose of our study was to identify the positionality of migrating SBAE teachers in their school-based context. We did this by examining positionalities of SBAE teachers and influencers in their interactions. Four themes described how SBAE migrators identified their positionality: This is Where I’m Meant to Be, Additional Duties as Assigned, I’m the Real Deal, and Everyone is Special. Four themes further described how SBAE influencers identified their positionality: We’re All Doing the Best We Can, You Gotta Want It, Double Standards, and All or Nothing. We found SBAE teachers aligned with their positioning in the Agricultural Education literature and found additional implications for mobile teachers. The teachers in this study also navigated the expectations set by their predecessor and voiced by their community. Our recommendations focus on SBAE teachers and their job search, workload, responsible autonomy, and replaceability, and influencers’ interactions to support these endeavors.","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136343455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dr. Quintana (Quincy) Clark, Dr. Brenda M. Capobianco, Dr. Levon T. Esters
{"title":"Identification of essential integrated STEM curriculum implementation components","authors":"Dr. Quintana (Quincy) Clark, Dr. Brenda M. Capobianco, Dr. Levon T. Esters","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.60","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.60","url":null,"abstract":"Measuring the factors affecting the implementation process are critical steps for understanding how, why, and under what circumstances integrated STEM curriculum innovations work. The overarching goal of this National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project was to design, field-test, implement, and evaluate contextualized integrated STEM learning experiences that use agricultural life sciences (AgS) as a context. To that end, we developed AgS model-eliciting activities (MEAs). MEAs are thought-revealing tasks that require student teams to mathematize real-world situations. The present study employed the iterative engineering design process guided by the innovation implementation framework to identify essential structural and interactional integrated STEM curriculum implementation components. Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teacher scopes and sequence plans, student readability level, agricultural life science contexts, culturally relevant pedagogy, and access to STEM mentors were mapped to the AgS MEA curriculum implementations. Drawing on semi-structured teacher interviews (individual and focus group), recorded teacher development sessions, and documented expert consultations, this study provides research-to-practice findings that support the effective implementation of an innovative integrated STEM curriculum for elementary grade levels. An iterative engineering design process guided by the innovation implementation framework provided a strategic iterative method to utilize teacher feedback over five AgS MEA implementations. Six structural and six interactive AgS MEA implementation components were identified. The results from this work can help mitigate the barriers researchers and teachers experience when implementing integrated STEM curriculum innovations.
","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136343640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A national study assessing the influence of perceived challenges faced by school-based agricultural education teachers on their ability to do their job","authors":"William Doss, John Rayfield, David Lawver","doi":"10.5032/jae.v64i3.2476","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v64i3.2476","url":null,"abstract":"Attrition is a documented cause for ongoing SBAE teacher shortages and is often linked with the number of challenges faced by teachers and their ability to overcome them. Teacher experiences with challenges and barriers has the potential to impact occupational self-efficacy, or their perceived ability to do their job. Lower occupational self-efficacy has been tied to higher levels of attrition. The purpose of this study was to assess how challenges faced by SBAE teachers across the United States influence their perceived ability to do their job. A descriptive national survey was employed to accomplish the purpose of this study. Challenges most negatively impacting SBAE teachers’ perceived ability to do their job included miscellaneous activities beyond teaching, FFA, and SAE as well as personal activities outside of school. We also found female SBAE teachers perceived challenges to more negatively influence their ability to do their job than their male colleagues. Recommendations for practice included providing additional training in managing miscellaneous activities in SBAE programs and determining root causes of SBAE teacher challenges so they may be eliminated when possible. Further research should be conducted in developing a SBAE teacher occupational self-efficacy instrument and in finding ways to remedy the differences in perceived influence of challenges faced by male and female SBAE teachers on their ability to do their job.","PeriodicalId":73589,"journal":{"name":"Journal of agricultural education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136343461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}