Progress 06/01/24 to 05/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this period was teachers from across the upper Midwest--twenty-eight teachersattended the teacher workshops in year two, with 21 in their first year, and seven returning for their second year of training. Changes/Problems:The most significant problem encountered was in teachers needing additional time to acquire the mechanical skills necessary to build CNC tables. To address this problem, skill development activities related to soldering and electrical circuits will be added for the second cohort. The second most significant problem is the rapidly increasing cost of materials and the lack of domestic producers of the components required to build the CNC tables. Bulk purchasing of multiple years' supplies has helped to mitigate this issue, and PIs are now building the CNC table components, which necessitated the purchase of tools to make the kits, but enabled the cost ofkits to stay within the budget, even with adding the additional cost of the tools needed to build them. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two 3-day workshops were provided in year two. Teacher attrition led to only seven of the eleven Cohort One teachers returning. Several teachers reported leaving the teaching profession after the last school yearand consequently did not return for additional training. Twenty-one teachers attended the 3-day first-year training. Further training opportunities were provided via Zoom andrecorded videos on topics that teachers expressed a desire for additional information on. These video resources were posted in a Google Classroom that was created to host lesson plans, coding resources, and presentations from workshop presenters. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PIs were able to visit many of the schools where teachers received individualized instruction, and PIs discussed further educational opportunities with students, focusing on agricultural degrees and the regional land-grant institutions. Teacher workshops and the new educational opportunities they offered to their communities were disseminated through a post-workshop press release, which several outlets picked up. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Ongoingteacher recruitment is occurring for future workshops. Data collection and needs assessments are also ongoing with a focus on both improving the current teachers' learning and identifying future professional development needs of teachers related to precision agriculture and microcontrollers. The difficulties that teachers faced in constructing their CNC tables are being addressed, and additional training in basic mechanical skills is being developed to support the second cohort. Ongoing refinement of lessons and development of new resources is also ongoing, with a plan to publish curricular units on UNL's Digital Commons repository at the end of the third cohort's testing of the materials.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1. Enhance rural AFNR efficiencies and provide rural schools with open-source electronics platforms, software, and readily accessible sensors along with training and lesson delivery resources to facilitate rural prosperity and economic development. Seven of the 11 year one participants returned to complete the Year 2 training and build CNC tables. Participants learned how stepper motor controls operate and builtcontrol boxes for CNC tables from scratch, which they then took back to their schools to teach their students. Twenty-one teachers attended the year one training workshop. Similar to the pilot year, they received three days of instruction and took six sensor kits and curriculum back to their schools to train students on precision agriculture and sensors. Goal 2.Provide immersive collaborative opportunities for teachers to work with PIs to develop problem-based learning modules which utilize automation to improve on current practice or reduce implementation costs. Two 3-day workshops were held in year two for both new and returning teachers. The first year workshops allowed teachers to interact with PIs and guest speakers to learn Arduino coding, sensor wiring, and agricultural applications related to their new equipment. The curriculum developed by the pilot teachers was refined by the year two teacher cohort, and commercial labs utilizing the sensor kits were adapted to focus on agricultural applications. PIs and teachers met over Zoom several times to discuss problems and opportunities related to teaching their students. Year one teachers returned to work with PIs and presenters to learn advanced motor control, build CNC tables, and build control systems. Agricultural applications for stepper motor control were discussed, and teachers applied electrical wiring, soldering, and STEM design to the construction of their new equipment. Goal3. Create problem-based learning activities based on the automation of AFNR systems in the context of plant, animal, and power, structural, and technical sciences systems. Lessons developed by the Year One cohort were refined by Year Two teachers, who collaborated with PIs to identify ways to improve the lessons based on the experiences of the Year One teachers. Hands-on applications related to agricultural production were emphasized. Goal4. Assess the teachers' implementation of the workshop outcomes in their classrooms. Progress is ongoing. Teachers in Cohorts One and Two participated in reflective focus group interviews with PIs, discussing effective strategies, difficulties encountered, and how PI support could be leveraged to enhance their implementation of the curriculum in their classes. Data were collected using a needs-based Levels of Concern survey, andteachers' levels of use were discussed in the interviews.

Publications

Progress 06/01/23 to 05/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, the target audience was teachers in the upper Midwest teaching agriculture or science including skilled and technical science educators. Teachers were contacted using a number or email list-serves. We held a fall workshop with a smaller-than-expected number of teachers. This led to changing the workshops to earlier in the summer for 2024. As of June 30, we have 23teachers signed up for the July 2024 workshop and anticipate it will fill at 25 teachers. We have also expanded our advertising to teachers across the Midwest. Changes/Problems:The largest challenge was getting enough teachers to the workshop. To meet this challenge we moved the workshop into the summer and advertised throughout the region earlier. We expanded our number of teachers to recruit for Cohorts 2 and 3 by the number we were not able to recruit in Year 1. This has allowed us to recruit up to 25 teachers for Cohorts 2 and 3. We were able to get 23 teachers registered for the Year 2 workshop. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Cohort 1 was smaller than anticipated and allowed teachers to have more personal contact with PIs over the course of the three-day workshop. In addition to the content delivered in the workshop, teachers were able to request and PIs and collaborators created additional instructional videos which were saved and will be used with future cohorts of teachers. Teachers lack training related to precision agriculture, microcontrollers, and electrical sensors used in modern agricultural production. By providing training in automation and coding, teachers will be better prepared to create learning experiences that mirror modern agricultural systems. A 3-day training workshop trained 11 teachers from 10 schools on the use of open-source microcontrollers, coding, sensors, and inquiry-based instruction. These 11 teachers incorporated this instruction through inquiry-based methodologies into 14 classes in 10 different school districts. Twelve refresher videos reviewing workshop content were created and hosted online for teacher access to reinforce the 3-days of training received at the workshop. Ten teacher-created and peer-reviewed lesson plans related to the automation of agricultural systems in the plant systems pathway were piloted in 14 classes with approximately 60 students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Initial data collection is still under way and will be reported as it is analyzed in Year 2. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have recruited for cohort two and have over the 20 teachers we initially planned to recruit. Recruitment for Year 2 will put our teacher numbers back on track for training a total of 60 teachers throughout the grant. Data collection from teachers and students is ongoing and will be continued with teachers from both the first two cohorts in Year 2. Cohort 2 teachers will develop additional lessons and will further refine the lessons created in Year 1.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1. Eleven teachers attended the first fall workshop. Each teacher took back six Arduino UNO-compatible sensor kits and a variety of related sensors and training aids developed by the PIs for use in this project. Teachers used open-source software and lessons created by participants and PIs for teaching about soil moisture sensors, LCD's, pumps, digital humidity, and temperature sensors and theirrelationship to increasing the efficiency of plant production systems. Goal 2. Teachers worked with PIs throughout the year to find and create innovative delivery methods for teaching about the use of microcontrollers in ag production. This led to the creation of a custom model barn that integrated the four sensors and two fans controlled by relays to model a production greenhouse. Gaol 3. Teachers and PIs worked collaboratively to create lesson plans for 10 days of instruction and to deliver the instruction to at least one class at each of their schools. Lessons utilized inquiry-based instruction to improve engagement with the content. Goal 4. Progress is ongoing. Data collection has occurred and will continue as future cohorts complete the workshops and deliver the content to students across the Midwest with a goal of having data andpublications from the data in Year 4.

Publications