Recipient Organization
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
(N/A)
LOGAN,UT 84322
Performing Department
Cooperative Extension
Non Technical Summary
There is a need to promote and strengthen career exploration and science education to ensure a qualified workforce in agricultural science (agriscience) and agricultural business (agribusiness), if the United States is to remain a food-secure sovereign nation. According to the most recent employment opportunity study conducted by Purdue University (2005), "Employment opportunities for U.S. college graduates with expertise in the food, agricultural, and natural resources system are expected to remain strong during the next five years. We expect slightly more than 52,000 annual job openings for new graduates during 2005-2010, and some 49,300 qualified graduates available each year for these positions. Annually, an average of approximately 32,300 new graduates from U.S. colleges of agriculture and life sciences, forestry, and veterinary medicine are expected to take jobs in the system. Other job openings will be filled by some 17,000 qualified graduates from allied higher education programs such as biological sciences, engineering, business, health sciences, communication, and applied technologies" (Goecker, Gilmore, Smith, & Smith, 2005, p. 3). This project seeks to increase the awareness of agriscience and agribusiness careers through the creation of high impact, "classroom-friendly" resources delivered to teachers statewide through seventh and eighth grade mandatory curriculum and training. The project objectives (meeting the Educational Need Areas of SPECA) include the following: Increase faculty teaching competencies and awareness concerning career opportunities in agriscience and agribusiness. Integrate agricultural education, as it relates to the Career & Technical Education (CTE): Introduction and Integrated Science mandatory courses, to increase student understanding of agriscience and agribusiness careers. Specifically, this project will develop instructional resources-video segments and a lesson plan-which define agriscience and agribusiness. The video segments will document the work of professionals in agriscience and agribusiness and the requirements for obtaining careers in agriscience and agribusiness. A web survey distributed to all teachers participating in the training will measure the project's impact. Teachers will be asked about their competence in educating students about careers in agriscience and agribusiness, the usefulness of the DVD/lesson plan, and their method of using the resource with students. Teachers will also be asked if they observed changes in their student's perceptions about agricultural careers and their ability to name/identify agriscience and agribusiness careers after completing the unit of instruction and the desk game. A final question will be asked regarding student interest in agriscience and agribusiness careers.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Objectives: Increase faculty teaching competencies and awareness concerning career opportunities in agriscience and agribusiness. Integrate agricultural education, as it relates to the Career & Technical Education (CTE): Introduction and Integrated Science mandatory courses, to increase student understanding of agriscience and agribusiness careers. Date for Completion/Milestone/Product, Results, Measurable Outcomes September 2009: Selection of 20 careers for DVD February 2010: Video segment filming March 2010: Video editing April 2010: Lesson Plan/Desk Game Development May 2010: Develop website with hands-on demonstration activities that correlate with the DVD,press/replicate final DVD June 2010: Complete lesson plan, upload DVD segments to the Web for individual viewing and podcast download, 20 one-minute video segments available on the internet for viewing or download to MP3 device, instructional resource is a requirement in online course; accountability and feedback for improvement by 30 teachers, add lesson plan to AITC and Utah State Office of Education (USOE) website, free access to teachers worldwide. Websites are evaluated with web counter, present at CTE: Introduction Summer In-service Teacher Training July 2010: 600 teachers receive training with the lesson plan and a DVD for their school. Collect email addresses from participating teachers who agree to evaluate the resource by taking a DVD. February 2011: Present at Utah Science Teachers Association Winter In-service Teacher Training, 50 teachers receive training with the lesson plan and a DVD for their school. Collect email addresses from participating teachers who agree to evaluate the resource by taking a DVD. Evaluation of the lesson plan and DVD (web survey for all teachers who received a copy of the DVD and lesson plan, CTE: Introduction Teachers Integrated Science Teachers. Survey results on the usefulness of the DVD/lesson plan (instructional resources) and their students' abilities to name/identify agricultural and natural resources careers. May 2011: Compile the results of the project for final report Project complete and final report submitted.
Project Methods
The twenty scientists/researchers and agribusiness professionals will be selected for the DVD segments by combining the jobs outlined on the "Living Science" careers website, and the careers noted in the "Employment Opportunities for College Graduates in the U.S. Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resources System" publication. This list will then be correlated with the state mandatory standards for CTE: Introduction and Integrated Science career guideline. The final list will be reviewed by a committee of course teachers and agricultural educators at Utah State University. For the DVD, selected professionals will talk about what they do and what education is required in a concise way, preferably in the setting where they conduct most of their work. Teachers have three methods for delivering the information: either in a classroom setting by viewing the DVD with students, in a computer lab with students at individual workstations, or by having students download individual segments. The lesson plan, complete with the career demonstration activities and WebQuest, will be developed as a companion when the DVD is complete. The desktop game will be completed and used as a form of assessment for the career awareness content. The lesson plan will provide teachers with background and career outlook information for each career on the DVD and information about where to find other agriscience and agribusiness careers not part of the DVD. The desk game will focus on the four career areas noted in "Employment Opportunities for College Graduates in the U.S. Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resources System 2005-2010" and assess students' abilities to name or identify agricultural and natural resources careers. The desk game will be available as a free download or teachers will be able to purchase laminated sets from the Utah-AITC e-store on a cost recovery basis. Approximately 30 teachers complete this course annually reaching 3,600 students. The complete project resources will be presented at the annual CTE: Introduction Summer In-service 2010; nearly 600 teachers participate in this training. Evaluation Plans A web survey will be used to measure the project's stated objectives to: 1) Increase faculty teaching competencies and awareness concerning career opportunities in agriscience and agribusiness and 2) Integrate agricultural education, as it relates to the CTE: Introduction and Integrated Science mandatory courses, to increase student understanding of agriscience and agribusiness careers. Specifically, teachers who are part of the trainings will be asked if they felt more competent to educate their students about agriscience and agribusiness careers. Additional questions will be asked about the usefulness of the DVD/lesson plan, and how they used the resource with their students. Teachers will also be asked if they observed changes in their students' perceptions about agricultural careers and their ability to name/identify agriscience and agribusiness careers after completing the unit of instruction and the desk game. A final question will be asked regarding student interest in agriscience and agribusiness careers.