Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
200 D.W. BROOKS DR
ATHENS,GA 30602-5016
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Agriculture and Life Sciences Summer Institute will build the capacity of educators to recruit and retain the next generation of agriculturalists by increasing engagement, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge retention of students using student-centered practices. For this project, 36 middle and high school educators will be selected to participate in a summer institute to learn how to develop and implement student-centered, active learning ALS lessons through professional learning, field experiences, and mentorship. Additionally, 18 previously trained educators will receive additional training on transformative mentoring and serve as instructional design support for teachers during curriculum development and implementation. The goal for implementing student-centered, active learning curriculum is to encourage student identity expression, increase problem-solving skills, and strengthen career aspirations related to ALS. The expected outcomes for this four-year project are: 1) Expand the Agriculture and Life Sciences Academy (ALSA) community of educators to include teacher mentors who support the creation and advancement of high quality and student-centered instruction; 2) Develop active learning lessons focused on food safety, nutrition, and health in the areas of animal science, food science, horticulture, agricultural business and finance, environmental science and natural resources, and agricultural technology; and 3) Pilot ALS lessons, make revisions, and upload completed lessons to an online repository. All participants will receive membership to ALSA's virtual community of practice, student-centeredALS curriculum, and other active learning resources and support to advance the implementation of the curriculum in classrooms.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The three objectives for this four-year integrated research and extension project are:1) Expand the Agriculture and Life Sciences Academy (ALSA) community of educators to include teacher mentors who support the creation and advancement of high quality and student-centered instruction;2) Develop active learning lessons focused on food safety, nutrition, and health in the areas of animal science, food science, horticulture, agricultural business and finance, environmental science and natural resources, and agricultural technology; and3) Pilot ALS lessons, make revisions, and upload completed lessons to an online repository.
Project Methods
Plan of Operation and MethodologyObjective 1: Expand the ALSA Community of Educators and Mentors (Years 1-3)The principal investigators will invite previously trained ALSA members to apply for the teacher mentor (TM) Program. Cohorts of 6 TMs will attend a 2-day virtual training starting in spring 2026. The goal of the training will be to build their capacity to implement transformative mentoring in education settings and provide support to teachers using the ALSA student-centered, active learning instructional tools (i.e., the curriculum map, lesson plan template, and lesson evaluation rubric). The TMs will participate in quarterly virtual group check-ins with the PI and co-PD of Instruction to reinforce mentor training and discuss current topics of interests related to supporting the mentees (e.g., using instructional technologies, lesson implementation, etc).During the Spring 2026, the TMs will help the project team identify/recruit summer institute participants. During the summer 2026 institute, TMs will co-facilitate the Summer Institute. This will allow TMs to a) gain skills in training peers in student-centered, active learning teaching methodologies, b) provide a safe space for mentor skill development and refinement, and c) establish rapport with future mentees. At the 2026 summer institute's completion, they will be assigned to newly trained ALSA members. TMs will have quarterly touchpoints with their assigned mentee(s) on effective teaching strategies for student engagement, lesson development support, and other topics of interest. TMs will also work with project PDs to identify venues in which to train educators in student-centered, active learning teaching strategies, thus recruiting other individuals to be members of ALSA. This may include professional conferences, school district training sessions and others as appropriate for the audience. Mentees from each cycle will continue to be invited to quarterly group sessions and the opportunity to become a TM for new cohort members once they have met the requirements to be a TM.Objectives 2 and 3: Develop and Pilot student-centered, active learning ALS Lessons (years 2-4)At the six-day summer institute, the members will identify topics and learning outcomes for six 50-minute student-centered, active learning ALS lessons that they will develop based on one of their content areas and what lessons are needed as outlined in the Curriculum Map. Members will receive support from the Co-PD for instructional design, the content specialist (faculty member or doctoral student), Teacher Mentor, and fellow ALSA members. The Co-PD of instructional designer will guide the process using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) model for instructional systems design to facilitate the lesson development process (Morrison, 2010). The lessons can be based on new or existing content the member is already teaching and include instructional content, activities, labs, and assessments that introduce ALS content. Additionally, the lesson will include differentiated instruction options (special needs, general education, accelerated). Two lessons will be completed at the summer institute and up to three more to be completed and submitted to the project team by December 1 the same year. Lesson writers will pilot approved lessons and an additional ALSA member during the academic year following the summer institute. All 36 ALSA members will receive access to approved lessons developed over the three years for a final round of piloting as a content area. Members will provide feedback on how well the lessons are implemented into a full curriculum.Recruitment - Recruitment efforts will be led by consultant, Shaw. Teacher Mentors (TMs) will be recruited from the pool of 37 educators who participated in piloting the summer institutes in 2021-23. Preliminary interests have come from trained educators at CHSAS, Vincent, Arkansas Light House, and Saul. A recruitment announcement with online application will go out via email to all 31 educators in early June 2025 with a one-month deadline. This grant-funded recruitment cycle will repeat in the summer. Summer Institute Participants will be recruited from September through December 2025. Untrained agriculture teachers and science teachers from the 10 SBAEs that participated in piloting the summer institute will be directly contacted. In addition, an announcement with online application will go out over the listservs for the National Association for Agricultural Education (NAEE), Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE), which will allow a national reach of the target educational audiences. In-person recruitment at the national conferences for these organizations may occur while the project team and/or TMs are presenting project outcomes. Finally, trained participants will be encouraged to submit the names of potential recruits. This grant-funded recruitment cycle will repeat in the fall. Selection - Selection will be conducted by Anderson, Bozeman, and Shaw. TMs must have a) completed the full ALS summer institute, b) assisted in the development of the ALSA Curriculum Map or Created three student-centered, active learning ALS lesson plans, and c) either implemented the lesson plans or CR strategies in the classroom and evaluated as meeting standards of implementation as measured by the ALSA Education Rubric; and d) have approval from school administrator to participate. Five applicants will be selected and notified in July. Two alternates will be selected in the event one of the 5 cannot participate in the training or become unavailable to give the 1-year commitment to the program. If the alternates selected are not used, they will be invited to join the next cohort. To participate in the ALS Summer Institute, applicants must work as a teacher, counselor, academic administrator at an urban or suburban school for grades 5-12, or in higher education as a teacher educator, education graduate student, or Extension educator. Applications will be available using Qualtrics. The application asks demographic information, open-ended questions about ALS interests and experiences, and a support letter from a school administrator or applicant's supervisor.Continued Support - The project has been designed with the expectation that the faculty professional development and online instructional resources will be offered and available to educators for many years to come through the ALSA. Shaw will take the lead in identifying funding sources for the continued growth and success of ALSA, which will include nominal registration fees, private donations, and grants. Once educators attend the summer institute, they will gain membership to the online ALSA CoP, which will contain ALS curriculum, access to teacher mentors, current research and resources for USBAE and SCP, a message board for members to post questions, ideas, or relevant upcoming events. The ALS Summer Institute and ALSA CoP website will be promoted through various national agricultural education and science education organizations (e.g., NAAE, NSTA, AAAE, and ACTE).