Progress 07/01/07 to 09/30/10
Outputs
A three on-line course was developed and taught in summer 2008 (13 students), spring 2009 (12 students), fall 2009 (23 students), summer 2010 (8 students). There are 45 students enrolled in the course for spring 2011 and the course was recently approved as a GEP interdisciplinary course for any student at NCSU beginning spring 2011. The lab was developed and offered in spring 2009 (3 students) and fall 2009 (5 students). Educational research was conducted to compare the use of various instructional strategies to teach integrated topics in an on-line course using contextual learning. Multiple sections of the on line course over a two year period allowed us to set up a quasi-experimental study to compare two teaching methodologies in the course. The two teaching methods tested were the explanation of the scientific basis for content (comparison treatment) versus the application of content to a real world agricultural context (experimental treatment). The study was implemented with two different classes over two semesters. The comparison treatment was administered to 22 students during the spring semester of 2009, and the experimental treatment was administered to 16 students during the fall semester of 2009. The research design used was a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control-group design with an identical pre/posttest given to each group as a means of assessing content achievement. Due to low enrollments in the lab we were unable to carry out research to determine the contribution of hands on learning to the understanding of biotechnology principles by comparing those students that take the lab and those that do not. PRODUCTS: A three hour 200 level undergraduate distance education course in html format was developed that addresses trends and issues regarding agricultural biotechnology in today's society while teaching the basic biological sciences behind the technology. Peer reviews of the on line course by qualified faculty in four peer institutions and 1 industry personnel were conducted. On a scale of 1 to 4 the mean web page load time score was 3.67, the course layout was 3, the content accuracy 4, instructional strategies 4, assignments 3.5, and course interaction 3.5. Student course evaluations to access the quality of the course on a scale of 1 to 5 were 4.4 and 4.2 mean scores for spring and fall 2009. A one hour 200 level undergraduate hands on laboratory that allows students the opportunity to use tools and carry out protocols that demonstrate and replicate their current and futuristic use in the agricultural industry was developed. Students who took the lab highly recommended it to other students in exit interviews. The lab had low enrollments due to the fact it was not a co-requisite for course enrollment and could only be counted as a free elective for most students. OUTCOMES: Students taking the course and lab had a better understanding of agricultural biotechnology concepts as indicated by their passing final exam and lab grades. Students in sections of the on-line course that had the opportunity to engage in student centered and inquiry based activities learned the same scientific concepts as those who were in the course sections taught using the direct approach to teaching. Although the experimental treatment, based out of the principles of contextual teaching and learning, did have a greater mean gain on the pre/posttest it was not statistically significant (p >.05), so the study's null hypothesis was not rejected. Based on these results, compared with traditional methods, a curriculum of contextualized teaching and learning can be implemented while maintaining a comparable level of science student achievement. Students who took the course had a more positive perception of biotechnology and agriculture after taking the course. Student's perception of biotechnology had a 7% gain and student's perception of agriculture had a gain of 3%. Their overall perception of integrated curriculum on a scale of 1 to 4 (favorable) was 3.55. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: The project or components of the project were presented and disseminated at the 2009 and 2010 Southern Region Conference of the American Association for Agricultural Education, the 2009 Symposium on Life Sciences Education in the Research Triangle Park, NC., the 2010 Joint Meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists and Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists, the 2010 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference and the 2010 American Association for Agricultural Education Research Conference. NCSU will continue to offer the course each spring and summer and recruit both non-science and science students. FUTURE INITIATIVES: We are currently adding a policy perspective to the course to expand an interdisciplinary perspective to this multidisciplinary course. This new course, AEE/ANS/PB 208 Agricultural Biotechnology: Issues and Implications, will provide students with a comprehensive introduction to plant, animal, and environmental biotechnologies that are used in the agricultural industry. Because these technologies have real impacts that extend well beyond the laboratories in which they are developed, students will receive a sustained introduction to policies that have been generated to regulate their adoption and large-scale implementation. They will also examine how the agricultural industry is further shaped by the same policies. There are currently no courses at NCSU that integrate both the scientific bases and policy perspectives of agricultural biotechnology. This course is also novel in that brings together academic disciplines (Agricultural Extension and Education, Animal Science, and Plant Biology) that might not otherwise interact. It will be the first to address the perspectives and impacts of plant, animal, and environmental biotechnology together in a one-semester offering. We hope to use the labs in future years to teach in-service for high school teachers since, in the current budget crisis, we are unable to continue teaching it at the undergraduate level. We will continue to teach the course to all students spring and summer terms at NCSU. In addition we hope to offer the course via distance education to high schools and community colleges that have early college articulation agreements with the university.
Impacts
The project's anticipated overall impact on improving the quality of food and agricultural sciences education is exponential. Since this course will be in an on-line format taught in multiple sections, thousands of students could potentially take the course in the next ten years. Non-science majors will be exposed to the agricultural industry which they have little understanding of since the general population has moved further away from the farm. Science majors will benefit from the course by learning scientific concepts in an interdisciplinary format. Agricultural and science education majors are our future teachers who will be teaching agricultural sciences to the public. By using student centered teaching strategies we are modeling effective teaching for these future teachers. Also by providing them an integrated curriculum they experience first hand how to learn and teach using integrated curriculum. In our current K-12 models and undergraduate programs, future teachers have very little opportunity to experience integrated learning as students. Because they take the sciences such as biology and chemistry in different departments under teachers that are often not familiar with the agricultural industry, curriculum and instruction is seldom integrated so student believe that is how it works in the real world. These future teachers go out in the field and teach their students the way they were taught and we have a cycle of teachers teaching segregated content. This course could end that cycle.
Publications
- Curry, K.W. Jr., Wilson, E., Flowers, J. & Farin, C. (2010). Scientific basis vs. contextualized application of knowledge: The effect of teaching methodology on the achievement of postsecondary students in an integrated agricultural biotechnology course. Proceedings of the Southern Region Conference of the American Association for Agricultural Education, Agricultural Education Division, Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists. Feb. 6-9, Orlando, FL.
- Jordan, C.V., Farin, C., Wilson, E. (2009). Development of an Online Interdisciplinary Course in Agricultural Biotechnology. Symposium on Life Sciences Education. May 26, Research Triangle Park, NC.
- Jordan, C.V., Curry, K.W., Jr., Farin, C.E., and Wilson, E.B. (2010) Development and Delivery of an Online Course in Agricultural Biotechnology. Joint Meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists and Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists. July 31-August 4. Montreal, Canada.
- Wilson, E., Farin, C, Jordan, C., Curry, K., Jr., Compton, E., Kim, M. (2010). The Successful Development of an Integrated Biotechnology Course: Challenges Faced and Lessons Learned, Proceedings of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference. June 23-25, College Station, PA.
- Wilson, E., Curry, K., Jordan, C, Farin, C. (2010). Perceptions of Pre-Service Agricultural Education Students Enrolled in a Model Integrated Course Toward Their Pre-Service Experience and the Use of Integrated Curriculum. Proceedings of the American Association for Agricultural Education Research Conference, May 24-27, Omaha, NE.
- Wilson, E., Curry, K., Jr., Farin, C, Jordan, C. (2010). An Interdisciplinary Agricultural Biotechnology Course: Student Perceptions of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Integrative Techniques, Proceedings of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference, June 23-25, College Station, PA.
- Wilson, E., Curry, K., Jr., Farin, C, Jordan, C. (2009) Agricultural Biotechnology in Today's Society: An Interdisciplinary Course. Proceedings of the Southern Region of the American Association for Agricultural Education, Feb.1-3, Orlando FL.
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Progress 07/01/08 to 06/30/09
Outputs
In the fall of 2008, teaching assistants and investigators assessed the data collected during the summer in the pilot course offering. This data was used to revise the course to be more multidisciplinary as well as interdisciplinary. Teaching methods and assessments were also fine tuned based on student feedback. In the spring of 2009, the revised course was taught again with 22 students enrolled in the 3 hour online class and 3 students in the optional laboratory. Fifteen labs and lessons were carried out in the spring of 2009. Data regarding students' perceptions of the agriculture industry, biotechnology and their satisfaction with their education at NCSU were collected at the beginning and the end of the semester. An extension was requested in the summer of 2009 so that we could offer the course a third to time to collect additional data. This fall we are teaching the final version of the course to 19 students in the online class and 5 students in the laboratory and beginning semester data have been collected. In addition a quasi-experimental study was conducted during the spring 09 and the fall of 09 in the environmental section of the course. Our agricultural education teaching assistant, Kevin Curry, has carried out this study to determine if teaching biotechnology in the context of agriculture has any effect on the student's comprehension of scientific concepts. He is currently analyzing the data and will be disseminating the results of this study in this spring. We are currently requesting funds be moved from supplies to travel so that Dr. Elizabeth Wilson and Kevin Curry can travel to the Southern Region of the American of the Association of Agricultural Educator's conference in Feb. 2010 in Orlando Florida to present the findings of the quasi experimental study. Dr. Char Farin, Dr. Chad Jordan and Dr. Elizabeth Wilson and Kevin Curry are also requesting funds to disseminate findings to their respective national associations this spring. Dr. Char Farin plans to attend and present at the American Society of Animal Science meetings in Denver Colorado July 11-15th. Dr. Chad Jordan plans to attend and submit a poster at the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) in Montreal, July 31- August 4. Dr. Elizabeth Wilson and Kevin Curry plan to attend and submit a paper to the American Association for Agricultural Education to be held May 24-27, 2010 in Omaha Nebraska. In addition as planned in the original proposal Dr. Elizabeth Wilson, Dr. Chad Jordan and Dr. Char Farin plan to attend the NACTA convention next summer to report and disseminate findings and to attend the USDA principal investigator's meeting. PRODUCTS: The following products have been created: 1. A three hour 200 level undergraduate distance education course in html format that addresses trends and issues regarding agricultural biotechnology in today's society while teaching the basic biological sciences behind the technology. 2. A one hour 200 level undergraduate hands on laboratory that allows students the opportunity to use tools and carry out protocols that demonstrate and replicate their current and futuristic use in the agricultural industry. OUTCOMES: Data is still being collected to determine if: 1. Students taking the lab and online course have an increased understanding and perceptions regarding agricultural biotechnology. 2. Students in sections of the on-line course that have the opportunity to engage in student centered and inquiry based activities learn more about agricultural biotechnology than those only taking the course. 3. Students in agricultural degree programs who take the integrated course have a higher rate of satisfaction with their degree program than those that do not take the course. A study completed by the teaching assistant in agricultural education is being submitted to 2010 Southern Region, American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE) Research Conference to be held in Orlando, FL, Feb. 6-9, 2010. The project abstract reads as follows: "The purpose of the study was to comparatively evaluate two teaching methodologies for an integrated agricultural biotechnology course at the post-secondary level. The two teaching methods tested were the explanation of the scientific basis for content (comparison group) versus the application of content to a real world agricultural context (experimental group). The study was implemented with two different classes over two semesters. The comparison group was administered to 22 students during the spring of 2009, and the experimental treatment was administered during the fall of 2009. The research design used was a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control-group design with an identical pre/posttest given to each group as a means of assessing content achievement. Although the experimental treatment, based out of the principles of contextual teaching and learning, did have a greater mean gain on the pre/posttest it was not statistically significant, (p >.05) so the studies null hypothesis was not rejected. The results indicate that a curriculum of contextualized teaching and learning can be implemented while maintaining a comparable level of student achievement in the basic content as with traditional methods." DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: This year we were able to disseminate the general concept and methodology of the project at the state and national level. In February 2009, a poster was presented at the Southern Region of the American Association of Agricultural Educator's annual conference in Atlanta Georgia during Southern Association of Agricultural Scientist conference. The title was 'Agricultural Biotechnology in Today's Society: An Interdisciplinary Course'. In addition a poster was presented at the Symposium on Life Science Education, held on May 26, 2009 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The audience consisted of agricultural and science educators and industry personnel. The title was 'Development of an Online Interdisciplinary course in Agricultural Biotechnology'. FUTURE INITIATIVES: Overall we feel like the enrollment in the class has been acceptable due to the fact students who currently take the course are using it to fulfill an elective. North Carolina State University has just recently adopted a new General Education Program that requires all students to take an approved multidisciplinary course in their plan of study. We are currently in the process of trying to get the course on the official list of multidisciplinary courses. We feel that the enrollment will increase exponentially if we are able to get the course approved in this category of courses that all students at North Carolina State University are required to take.
Impacts
This project will be of value at the state and national levels by other universities and community colleges who have a need to recruit and retain students in agriculture, introduce non-science majors to agriculture and who are preparing high school science and agriculture education teachers. Community colleges that do offer agriculture related degrees can use this course to introduce 4 year transfer students to opportunities and degrees related to the agriculture industry. Since the majority of the students who enrolled in this course have been agricultural education majors we believe that by using student centered teaching strategies we are modeling effective teaching for these future teachers. Also by providing them an integrated curriculum they experience first hand how to learn and teach using integrated curriculum. In our current K-12 models and undergraduate programs, future teachers have very little opportunity to experience integrated learning as students. Because they take the sciences such as biology and chemistry in different departments under teachers that are often not familiar with the agricultural industry, curriculum and instruction is seldom integrated so student believe that is how it works in the real world. These future teachers go out in the field and teach their students the way they were taught and we have a cycle of teachers teaching segregated content. This course could end that cycle.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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