Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Integrating Systems Thinking into the Land-Grant Classroom: STEPS toward a Sustainable Future project will generate innovative tools for teaching systems thinking to undergraduate students in 1862 and 1890 land-grant university classrooms. The project will enhance the quality of instruction to help meet current and future workforce needs in the food and agricultural sciences. Graduates of land-grant universities will be the future workforce charged with solving complex, wicked problems at the nexus of food and agriculture sciences requiring climate-smart solutions. The system-wide need for climate-smart solutions make linear, short-term solutions inappropriate for addressing complex problems. However, teaching tools which integrate systems thinking into food and agricultural science contexts to improve students' systems thinking capacity are lacking. To address this gap, the STEPS project will create and test nine reusable learning objects (RLOs) which can be integrated into classrooms using hypothetical case scenarios (HCS). HCS are a teaching method used to gamify learning with the intention of enhancing student engagement. HCS tools present students with realistic, literature grounded, scenarios providing an opportunity to support and justify decisions within a structured learning environment. Students exposed to the STEPS project RLOs will be better equipped to solve complex problems related to climate-smart solutions because of engagement with real life scenarios that elicit and improve systems thinking. The STEPS project website and robust dissemination plan will ensure educators across the U.S. will have access to the RLOs, and associated training, allowing them to integrate the tools into traditional or virtual classrooms easily.
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
70%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
The Integrating Systems Thinking into the Land-Grant Classroom: STEPS toward a Sustainable Futureproject has five primary goals, and eight associated objectives. The goals and objectives are summarized below: Goal 1: To establish a measure of systems thinking capacity in food and agricultural science. Objective 1: To develop and validate a Systems Thinking in Food and Agricultural Science (STFAS) scale to assess project impact and effectiveness. Goal 2: To fill the gap of systems thinking tools within food and agricultural sciences education. Objective 2: To collaborate with six faculty across four institutions to create nine interdisciplinary HCS RLOs for use in the undergraduate classroom. Goal 3: To address USDA NIFA priority areas by increasing the number of adaptable curriculum tools available for undergraduate education in the context of climate-smart solutions. Objective 3: To develop nine reusable learning objects (RLOs) using hypothetical case scenarios (HCS) covering three NIFA priority area topics in food and agricultural science education. Goal 4: To increase the use of systems thinking as a learning outcome in colleges of agriculture in land-grant universities. Objective 4: To integrate the nine RLOs in nine classes across five institutions for two years with 728 undergraduate students. Objective 5: To develop and implement a multi-institutional course using HCS RLOs with 40 students. Objective 6: To measure through pre- and post-tests students' capacity for systems thinking based on engagement with the STEPS HCS RLOs. Objective 7: To conduct at least eight professional development workshops (5 conference, 3 webinar) for land-grant faculty to integrate the HCS RLOs into their classroom. Goal 5: To analyze and communicate the impact of systems thinking learning tools on students' ability to think systemically. Objective 8: To disseminate findings related to HCS RLOs at least six conferences and six journal articles in the agricultural and natural science disciplines.
Project Methods
The anticipated methods for the Integrating Systems Thinking into the Land-Grant Classroom: STEPS toward a Sustainable Future project includes the following. Year 1: Developing and validating STFAS and Developing HCS RLOs. Developing the STFAS scale based on best practices in the literature (Crocker & Algina, 1986; Messick, 1995) with specific focus on scale development in an agricultural and food system context (Lamm et al., 2020). Establishing and implementing cross-institutional mentoring strategies for all graduate students on the project. Developing of SOP for RLO development. The project evaluators will administer the STFAS in existing team courses in Y1, at class start (pre-test) and at conclusion (post-test). Observations will serve as control conditions and results of the evaluation will be used to assess project trajectory and impact. All RLO development SOP documentation will be revised and finalized by by the end of Y1. Year 2: Implementing RLOs and Curriculum Development. Developing SOP for RLO classroom integration in Y2. RLOs will then be implemented in undergraduate classrooms at all project universities using SOP. Begin curriculum development for the multi-institutional course, "Systems Thinking in Food and Agricultural Science" for online delivery through the Ag*Idea consortium. Develop curriculum to integrate all nine RLOs previously developed with supplementary content related to systems thinking capacities such as archetypes, systems modeling, and causal loop diagrams. All RLO development SOP documentation will be revised and finalized by the end of Y2. All project activities and operations will be evaluated by the external evaluation team. The project evaluators will administer the STFAS in team courses in Y2, at class start (pre-test) and at conclusion (post-test). Observations will serve as treatment conditions and results of the evaluation will be used to assess project trajectory and impact. Year 3: Disseminating RLOs and Launching Multi-Institution Course. Continue to implement the nine RLOs in classrooms at project institutions as well as the multi-institutional course offered through the Ag*Idea consortium. All project team members will implement a rigorous marketing campaign, including branding, website promotion, social media, and conference dissemination. Offer three webinars to increase the dissemination and adoption of the RLOs. All team members will recruit for enrollment in the multi-institutional course through professional networks and associations. Train other faculty members how to integrate systems thinking HCS RLOs in their classrooms. All project activities and operations will be evaluated by the external evaluation team. The project evaluators will administer the STFAS in team courses and new multi-institutional course in Y3, at class start (pre-test) and at conclusion (post-test). Observations will serve as treatment conditions and results of the evaluation will be used to assess project trajectory and impact across Y1, Y2, and Y3.