The Impact of Agricultural Education Programs on Student Achievement, Attitude, and Career Aspirations in the STEM Areas

THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, ATTITUDE, AND CAREER ASPIRATIONS IN THE STEM AREAS

Sponsoring Institution

State Agricultural Experiment Station

Project Status

TERMINATED

Funding Source

STATE

Reporting Frequency

Annual

Accession No.

1003902

Grant No.

(N/A)

Project No.

UTA-01193

Proposal No.

(N/A)

Multistate No.

(N/A)

Program Code

(N/A)

Project Start Date

Aug 1, 2014

Project End Date

Jun 30, 2019

Grant Year

(N/A)

Project Director
Sorensen, TY, JO.

Recipient Organization
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
LOGAN,UT 84322

Performing Department
Agri Systems Technology and Education

Non Technical Summary
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has received a significant amount of attention over the past several years. The overall goal of STEM education is to increase the number of students interested in and prepared for STEM related careers. According to the U.S. Department of Education, projected growth in STEM related career opportunities over the current decade far exceeds the growth in all occupations. The fundamental idea behind STEM education is to help students understand the application and interrelationship of the four components rather than viewing them in isolation as they have been taught for decades. Agriculture, like the health sciences, is an ideal platform for completely integrating all four components of STEM, allowing students to observe how each component interacts with and is essential to the others. School based agricultural education programs have integrated the STEM areas to varying degrees since their earliest implementation a century ago. The integration of STEM into agricultural education programs is important in addressing the shortage of individuals prepared for advanced and technical careers in agriculture. A 2010 study commissioned by the United States Department of Agriculture documented this shortage and predicted significant growth in agriculturally related jobs. Nearly 20% of jobs in the U.S. are in the food, renewable energy, and environment sector. Most require a university degree and specialized, STEM related preparation. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor projected significant growth in specific areas of agriculture during the decade 2008-2018. The agriculturally related careers with the highest projected growth are those requiring STEM-based post-secondary education. Examples include biochemistry, veterinary medicine, environmental science, and food science. It is important to determine the impact of the integration of STEM concepts into school based agricultural education on student achievement in these areas, their attitudes toward STEM and STEM related careers, and their career aspirations. Adequate preparation in STEM related areas, particularly as it connects to agriculture, is essential in meeting the needs of our future workforce in agriculture. This project will explore the impact of the integration of STEM concepts and the completion of school-based agricultural education programs on student achievement and attitude toward STEM concepts as well as their career aspirations for STEM-related jobs.

Animal Health Component

Research Effort Categories

Basic

60%

Applied

20%

Developmental

20%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
806	6010	3020	100%

Knowledge Area
806 - Youth Development;

Subject Of Investigation
6010 - Individuals;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Keywords

agricultural education

stem

science technology engineering mathematics

career aspirations

academic integration

Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to evaluate the impact of agricultural education programs on student achievement, attitude, and career aspirations related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The following specific objectives will guide the proposed research:1. Evaluate the impact of agricultural education programs on STEM-related career decision-making.2. Evaluate the impact of the integration of science and math into agricultural education on academic achievement in STEM related areas.3. Evaluate the impact of incorporating agriculture and natural resource context to science classes on student achievement.4. Evaluate the impact of including agriculture and natural resource contexts in science classes on student attitude toward science and agriculture.

Project Methods
The following methods are proposed for reaching the objectives listed above. Additional procedures will be added throughout the duration of the project as further questions arise from the results of the studies.1. Objective 1a. Survey College of Agriculture and Applied Science students on the influence of high school agriculture program participation (including FFA involvement) on career choice. Results of these focus group interviews will be used to develop the instrument used for the next phase of the project related to objective 1.b. Survey high school seniors who have completed an educational pathway in the agriculture and natural resources career cluster areas and a comparable group of high school seniors who have not completed agriculture and natural resources pathways and compare the STEM related career choices of these two groups. Static group - ex-post facto survey research design.c. Survey and/or interview participants in the FFA agriscience fair on their STEM-related career aspirations.2. Objective 2a. Quasi-experimental studies on the impact of integrating of math and science into high school agriculture courses.i. Math integration into animal science curriculum, specifically in livestock nutrition and ration balancingii. Physical science integration into agricultural systems courses, particularly the principles of physics and simple machines as they relate to the concepts within the agricultural systems courses.b. Post-hoc comparison of Utah high school students' achievement over the past decade on biology end of course exam versus the biology-agricultural science end-of-course exam. Note: both exams are aligned to the same standards and objectives and questions only vary by their context only. Data exists for the past 10 years.3. Objectives 3 and 4a. Measure postsecondary students' attitudes toward and achievement in science when agriculture and natural resources is used a context for teaching science using pre and posttest assessments. This will include pre and posttest measures in introductory courses that might include animal science, nutrition, agricultural systems, etc.

Progress 08/01/14 to 06/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences include high school agriculture teachers and teacher educators, school administrators, university recruiters and advisors, agricultural industry human resources personnel. A much broader, but important audience is the agriculture industry in general as we seek individuals who are prepared to take the technical and science-based jobs in agriculture. A well prepared workforce is required. Changes/Problems:The only major change that occurred during the duration of this project was the transition of this project to me from Brian Warnick in 2015. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Although this project did not intend to provide training and professional development opportunities, there were some that arose. For example, at a curriculum training for agriculture teachers teaching animal science and biology curriculum, we provided training and insights to them regarding integrating STEM concepts in their curriculum. We also had the opportunity for discussion and conversations related to their professional development needs regarding integrating core academic content into their agriculture courses. The research exploring the influences of school-based agricultural education on career choice in agricultural education as well as other agriculture majors has guided recruitment efforts and discussion with state leaders and teachers about helping students enter STEM related fields. One effort in particular is a state-wide professional development with teachers and counselors, training them about drones in agriculture so they can better prepare students for these STEM-related careers and decisions regarding these careers. Another opportunity that was delivered to agriculture teachers to help them better prepare their urban and suburban students for careers in agriculture was a workshop focused on providing students opportunities for experiential learning and engagement with small-acreage and urban agricultural practices (increasing the impact of agricultural education on STEM related career decision-making). One other training to help teachers integrate STEM into agriculture courses was a genetic engineering workshop I put on for them. The results of the study examining the impact of school-based agricultural education on graduation, STEM achievement, and income has lead to a podcast and an infographic for the agricultural education community as a whole across the US to discuss the impacts that agricultural education has on students and it implications for sharing this with administrators and the topic of relevance of secondary CTE programs. It has also provided opportunities for discussions with agriculture teachers and an opportunity to provide directed training to pre-service teachers regarding STEM integration within their programs. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Target audiences impacted by this project included high school agriculture teachers and teacher educators and to a certain extent school administrators and secondary agriculture students. A longer term impact might be realized by university recruiters and advisors, agricultural industry human resources personnel and the agriculture industry in general as we seek individuals who are prepared to take the technical and science-based jobs in agriculture. The majority of my work with this project yielded publications and training that impacted primarily high school agriculture teachers and teachers educators of agriculture. Through conference presentations and journal publications, I mainly reached the teacher educator audience. Numerous research presentations and publications were produced as a result of this project. Through practitioner journals, podcasts, and direct training and professional development opportunities, I mainly reached high school agriculture teachers. Some high school counselors as well as elementary, junior, and high school science or TEE teachers were also participants in the workshops about core integration and STEM careers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I will be presenting research in the fall to teacher educators regarding the impacts of incorporation of agriculture and natural resources context into post-secondary science courses.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Results of my work with this project has provided benefits to stakeholders of agricultural education programs. Overall, my work helped answer some big questions about the impact of agricultural education programs on student attitude and career aspirations related to STEM. Through this work, high school agriculture teachers and teacher educators, school administrators, and university recruiters and advisors can lean on my findings in guiding students towards STEM careers and guiding school based agricultural education (SBAE) programming towards impacting students in career decision-making in STEM areas. The following are the major activities, data, and discussion of results for each project objective: For objective one, three major studies were conducted which yielded four conference presentations and two journal articles with one more journal article being prepared. These data and research manuscripts answered questions related 1) HOW and WHAT of SBAE influences students to pursue a career in agriculture or STEM; and 2) the impact SBAE has on students after they graduate in terms of STEM achievement, graduation, and income. Our findings show that SBAE does indeed have strong influence on students' STEM-related career decision-making. For objective two, two conference presentations and two journal articles were produced which helped stakeholders better understand how science, math, and core academics are currently integrated, and the impact of that on STEM achievement and post high school success. Again, our results show that SBAE programs can have a positive impact on STEM achievement and post high school success (e.g., salary). For objective three and four, I have published one related journal article, presented at one conference, and collected data and will be presenting research in the fall to teacher educators regarding the impacts of incorporation of agriculture and natural resources context into post-secondary science courses. Results indicate that integrating agriculture and natural resources topics improves non-science college majors' attitudes towards science and STEM. We also found that underrepresented minority students enrolled in STEM programs (post-secondary) face unique challenges that can impede their progress towards completing their STEM related degree and pursuing a STEM-related career.

Publications

Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sorensen, T. (2018, March). Agricultural education saving the world: Addressing food security and other complex issues. The Agricultural Education Magazine, 90, 11-13.
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Presentations Lucas, M. (Presenter & Author), Sorensen, T. (Presenter & Author), Warnick, B. K. (Presenter & Author), Western Region Agricultural Education Research Conference, "Exploring School-Based Agricultural Education's Influence on Students' Choice of Major," American Association for Agricultural Education, Tucson, AZ. (September 19, 2016 - September 21, 2016)
Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ingram, M., Sorensen, T. J., Warnick, B. K., & Lawver, R. G. (2018, August). The influence of school-based agricultural education on pre-service agriculture teachers' choice to teach. Journal of Agricultural Education/AAAE, 59(2), 64-78.

Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences impacted by this year's activities included primarily post-secondary science and agriculture students enrolled at Utah State University and high school agriculture students and to a certain extent secondary agriculture teachers and teacher educators. The long term impacts might be experienced by university recruiters, agricultural industry human resources personnel and the agriculture industry in general as we seek individuals who aspire for careers in agriculture. Changes/Problems:There are no changes to report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The results of the study examining the impact of school-based agricultural education on graduation, STEM achievement, and income has lead to a podcast and an infographic for the agricultural education community as a whole across the US to discuss the impacts that agricultural education has on students and it implications for sharing this with administrators and the topic of relevance of secondary CTE programs. It has also provided opportunities for discussions with agriculture teachers and an opportunity to provide directed training to pre-service teachers regarding STEM integration within their programs. The research exploring the influences of school-based agricultural education on career choice in agricultural education as well as other agriculture majors has guided recruitment efforts and discussion with state leaders and teachers about helping students enter STEM related fields. One effort in particular is a state-wide professional development with teachers and counselors, training them about UAVs/drones in agriculture as well as another workshop about genetic engineering. Both workshops focus on teachers being better at preparing students for these STEM-related careers and decisions regarding these careers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A podcast (Owl Pellets) for the broader agricultural education community focused on taking research and putting it into practice was shared. The topic was directly related to the published article "A national analysis of school-based agricultural education involvement, graduation, STEM achievement, and income." The lead authors of the paper in which I was a co-author were the guests on the show. Additionally, this past year there were three journal publications and one conference presentation with research related to this project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I will continue to move forward with the data collection and analysis of research related to objectives 3 and 4 in evaluating the impact of incorporating agriculture and natural resources contexts in science classes (post-secondary) on student achievement, and attitude toward science and agriculture. By next reporting period, dissemination of this research should be in the pipeline for conference presentations and/or journal publications. I also have a goal to move forward with research from which data was collected last year that helps answer the question: How does SBAE influence students' decision to major in agriculture? The data is collected, I now need to get manuscripts written for a journal publication. I have a goal to accomplish this over the next six months.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Three major accomplishments happened during this reporting period for this project which include: 1) moving manuscripts into the published stage of research; 2) conducting research on two different studies related to objectives 1, 3, and 4 of the project; and 3) presenting research findings. First, three different manuscripts related to research from this project that were either in press or in review have finally made it to full publication. These are Interdisciplinary learning opportunities in agriculture, food, natural resources, and science: The role of the agriculture teacher. Journal of Agricultural Education, 59(2), 179-196. doi: 10.5032/jae.2018.02179; The influence of school-based agricultural education on pre-service agriculture teachers' choice to teach; and A national analysis of school-based agricultural education involvement, graduation, STEM achievement, and income. Journal of Agricultural Education, 59(1), 70-85. doi: 10.5032/jae.2018.01070. Secondly, two different research project are underway. One is exploring student retention from Ag Ed programs and their continued decision to remain in their career choice of agricultural education. This study is ongoing and a manuscript will soon be sent to a journal for publication. As part of this research a presentation at the Central Region AAAE meeting was presented this past October examining AFNR education and inspecting the pipeline to careers. This research is focused on objective 1 of this project. The second research project that is underway if focused on objectives 3 and 4 of the project where we are getting ready to collect data from post secondary students in a science class about their attitude towards science before and after agricultural issues are used as the context for the course instruction. The pre-test data has already been collected. Presentation at regional conference-- AFNR education, inspecting the pipeline (1) Published- interdisciplinary learning...(2) Published- influence of SBAE on choice to teach ag...(1) Published- national analysis of SBAE on graduation, STEM achievement, and income (1,2)

Publications

Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: McKim, A. J., Velez, J. J., & Sorensen, T. J. (2018, February). A national analysis of school-based agricultural education involvement, graduation, STEM achievement, and income. Journal of Agricultural Education/AAAE, 59(1), 70-85

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences impacted by this year's activities included post-secondary students enrolled in an agricultural major at Utah State University, high school agriculture students, school-based agricultural educators, and to a certain extent teacher educators. The long term impacts might be experienced by university recruiters, agricultural industry human resources personnel and the agriculture industry in general as we seek and train individuals who aspire for careers in agriculture. Changes/Problems:There are no changes to report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The results of the study examining the impact of school-based agricultural education on graduation, STEM achievement, and income has lead to discussions with agriculture teachers and an opportunity to provide directed training to pre-service teachers regarding STEM integration within their programs. The research exploring the influences of school-based agricultural education on career choice in agricultural education as well as other agriculture majors has guided recruitment efforts and discussion with state leaders and teachers about helping students enter STEM related fields. One effort in particular is a state-wide professional development with teachers and counselors, training them about drones in agriculture so they can better prepare students for these STEM-related careers and decisions regarding these careers. Another opportunity that was delivered to agriculture teachers to help them better prepare their urban and suburban students for careers in agriculture was a workshop focused on providing students opportunities for experiential learning and engagement with small-acreage and urban agricultural practices (increasing the impact of agricultural education on STEM related career decision-making). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In total this past year, I was able to disseminate information from various studies related to this project through national conference papers (2 total) and poster presentations (2 total) and journal articles (1 published, 3 in-press). All of these were related to objectives 1 and 2 of the project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I will continue to disseminate information from the various research endeavors that have not yet been published in journals. This research will result in recommendations to science and agricultural educators as well as state leaders and teachers educators across the country. I will begin research efforts to address objectives 3 and 4 this next year.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This past year, I was able to conduct and conclude some of research studies related to the objectives of this project and then disseminate the information via various channels. I conducted studies and disseminated the information related to objectives 1 and 2 in particular. Specifically, the research studies related to these objectives were: 1) Examining the impacts of school-based agricultural education on graduation, STEM achievement, and income was presented at the National AAAE Conference and was also accepted into the Journal of Agricultural Education (in-press). This paper was awarded the Most Outstanding Research Paper at the AAAE National conference. 2) Exploring the influences of school-based agricultural education on career choice in Agricultural Education was presented at the National AAAE Conference and was also accepted for publication into the Journal of Agricultural Education (in-press). 3) Interdisciplinary learning opportunities in agriculture, food, natural resources, and science: The role of the agriculture teacher was accepted into the Journal of Agricultural Education (in-press). 4) The role of teachers in facilitating mathematics learning opportunities in agriculture, food, and natural resources was accepted and published in the Journal of Agricultural Education (58(3), 203-218. doi: 10.5032/jae.2017.03203). 5) The research poster To the fair! How does the FFA Agriscience Fair influence student career aspirations? was presented at the National AAAE conference. 6) the research poster How does SBAE influence students' decision to major in agriculture? was also presented at the National AAAE Conference.

Publications

Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: McKim, A. J., Velez, J. J., Sorensen, T. (2017). Answering the unanswered questions: Linking school-based agricultural education involvement to graduation, STEM achievement, and income (vol. 44, pp. 609-624). San Luis Obispo, CA: American Association for Agricultural Education Research Conference.
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sorensen, T. J., Ingram, M., Warnick, B. K. (2017). Exploring the influences of school-based agricultural education on pre-service teachers choice to teach agriculture (vol. 44, pp. 193-207). San Luis Obispo, CA: American Association for Agricultural Education Research Conference
Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: McKim, A. J., Velez, J. J., Sorensen, T. J. (2017). A national analysis of school-based agricultural education involvement, graduation, STEM achievement, and income. Journal of Agricultural Education/AAAE. http://www.jae-online.org/
Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: McKim, A. J., Sorensen, T., Velez, J. J., Field, K. G., Crannell, W. K., Curtis, L. R., Diebel, P. L., Stone, D. L., Gaebel, K. (2017). Underrepresented Minority Students Find Balance in STEM: Implications for Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. North American Colleges & Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA), 61(4), 317-323. https://www.nactateachers.org/attachments/article/2668/McKim_UnderrepresentedMinorityStudents.pdf
Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: McKim, A. J., Velez, J. J., Everett, M. W., Sorensen, T. J. (2017). The role of teachers in facilitating mathematics learning opportunities in agriculture, food, and natural resources. Journal of Agricultural Education/AAAE. http://www.jae-online.org/
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Ingram, M. (Presenter & Author), Sorensen, T. (Presenter & Author), Warnick, B. K. (Presenter & Author), National Agricultural Education Research Conference, "How does SBAE influence students decision to major in agriculture?," American Association for Agricultural Education, San Luis Obispo, CA. (May 17, 2017 - May 19, 2017)
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Ingram, M. (Presenter & Author), Dutton, C. (Presenter & Author), Sorensen, T. (Presenter & Author), National Agricultural Education Research Conference, "To the fair! How does the FFA Agriscience Fair influence student career aspirations?," American Association for Agricultural Education, San Luis Obispo, CA. (May 17, 2017 - May 19, 2017)

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience Target audiences impacted by this year's activities included primarily post-secondary students enrolled in an agricultural major at Utah State University and high school agriculture students and to a certain extent secondary agriculture teachers and teacher educators. The long term impacts might be experienced by university recruiters, agricultural industry human resources personnel and the agriculture industry in general as we seek individuals who aspire for careers in agriculture. Changes/Problems:Changes/Problems There are no changes to report What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities The results of the first study examining the influence of high school agriculture program participation on the career choice of students enrolled in the college of agriculture has provided an opportunity for discussion with agriculture teachers, teacher leaders, and teacher educators regarding best practices that can lead to STEM career aspirations by students and direction to the agricultural education profession in programming. It has also lead to further research in examining how specific characteristics of the agricultural program can influence students' decision making processes. The second study examining the influence of the Agriscience fair on students' career aspirations has provided opportunities for discussion with agriculture teachers and teacher leaders about the influence of Agriscience fair on influencing career choice in STEM. The implications of the findings suggest professional development opportunities for teachers in developing the scientific inquiry process of their students and to encourage student participation in the AgriScience fair. The third research project examining the role of agriculture teachers in the integration of science has provided conversations about the strategies agriculture teachers use and has identified the professional development needs in the integration of science in agricultural education. The fourth project examined the impacts of school-based agricultural education on STEM achievement, graduation rates, and career success by utilizing a national data set tracking students longitudinally. We compared students from school-based agricultural education to other students. This research has provided recommendations for professional development for agricultural teachers, especially in the context contextualizing science content through agriculture. The fifth project related to core academic integration within agricultural education has provided information about the professional development needs of agriculture teachers related to the integration of core academic content (e.g., science) into agricultural education. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dissemination Research study one: One poster and one paper were presented at the Western Region -American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE) conference. They are being prepared for submission to the national AAAE conference. Research study two: one poster was presented at the Western Region AAAE conference and is being prepared for the national AAAE conference as a full paper manuscript. Research project three: A paper was presented at the North Central Region -AAAE conference and is currently under review in the Journal of Agricultural Education (JAE). This manuscript was awarded the most outstanding paper at the conference. Research project number four: One manuscript is being completed and is will be submitted to the national AAAE conference next month. The fifth project: This manuscript has been submitted and accepted to the Journal of Agricultural Education and is currently in-press. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plan of Work I will continue to progress the dissemination of the research projects mentioned above with a terminal goal for journal publications. This will result in recommendations to science and agricultural educators in Utah. Furthermore, I plan to conduct more research investigating Objectives 3 and 4.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Accomplishments This past year, five (5) research projects were undertaken where significant progress has been made. All projects were related to either objective 1 or objective 2 with a major focus on the impact school-based agricultural education has on STEM related career decisions. The five projects are in different stages of progression, but all data has been collected for all projects.

Publications

Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Despain, D., North, T., Warnick, B. K., Baggaley, J. (2016). Biology in the agriculture classroom: A descriptive comparative study. Journal of Agricultural Education/American Association for Agricultural Education, 57(1), 194-211. http://www.jae-online.org/attachments/article/1956/2016-1-14-Despain.pdf
Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: McKim, A. J., Sorensen, T., Velez, J. J., Field, K. G., Crannell, W. K., Curtis, L. R., Diebel, P. L., Stone, D. L., Gaebel, K. (2016). Underrepresented Minority Students Find Balance in STEM: Implications for Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. North American Colleges & Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA).
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Presentations Lucas, M. (Presenter & Author), Sorensen, T. (Presenter & Author), Western Region Agricultural Education Research Conference, "Exploring School-Based Agricultural Education's Influence on Students' Choice of Major," American Association for Agricultural Education, Tucson, AZ. (September 19, 2016 - September 21, 2016)
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Presentations Dutton, C. (Presenter & Author), Sorensen, T. (Presenter & Author), Western Region Agricultural Education Research Conference, "To the Fair! Exploring the influences of the FFA Agriscience Fair on career aspirations," American Association for Agricultural Education, Tucson, AZ. (September 19, 2016 - September 21, 2016)
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Presentations Hartman, B. D. (Presenter & Author), Grzyb, K. (Author Only), Sorensen, T. J. (Author Only), Field, K. G. (Author Only), National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) Annual International Conference, "Bioenergy science and engineering as components of agricultural education curricula," National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Baltimore, MD. (April 14, 2016 - April 17, 2016)
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Conference Proceedings McKim, A. J., Sorensen, T. J., Velez, J. J. (2016). Science Integration: The Role of the Agriculture Teacher (pp. 1-8). West Lafayette, IN: North Central Region Agricultural Education Research Conference.
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Conference Proceedings Sorensen, T. J., Lucas, M., Warnick, B. K. (2016). What influences agricultural education students to choose teaching as a career? (vol. 35, pp. 49-63). Tucson, AZ: Western Region Agricultural Education Research Conference.
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Conference Proceedings Velez, J. J., McKim, A. J., Sorensen, T. J., Field, K. G., Crannell, W. K., Curtis, L. R., Diebel, P. L., Stone, D. L., Gaebel, K. (2016). Examining the challenges and supports identified by underrepresented minority students enrolled in STEM programs within a college of agriculture (1st ed., vol. 60, pp. 38). NACTA Journal.

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience Target audiences impacted by this year's activities included primarily high school agriculture teachers and teacher educators and to a certain extent school administrators and secondary agriculture students. A longer term impact might be realized by university recruiters and advisors, agricultural industry human resources personnel and the agriculture industry in general as we seek individuals who are prepared to take the technical and science-based jobs in agriculture. Changes/Problems:Changes/Problems Tyson Sorensen will take the project effective July 1, 2015. All salary and operating budget will transfer to him. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities The results of the study comparing the biology test scores of agriculture students and non-agriculture students provided an opportunity for discussion with the agriculture teachers and teacher leaders regarding professional development needs in the STEM areas for agriculture teachers. Professional development was provided during the summer agriculture teacher conference in June. The development and dissemination of the Agricultural Science I curriculum library provides an opportunity for future follow-up research studies on teacher implementation and student achievement. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Dissemination 1. Three manuscripts have been submitted for review in refereed journals. These three manuscripts relate to research accomplished for objective 2. 2. A presentation was made to the secondary agriculture teachers in Utah regarding the comparison of biology test results between agriculture and non-agriculture students. 3. The curriculum package for Agricultural Science I was disseminated to 128 secondary agriculture teachers in Utah and professional development was provided to them on implementing the curriculum in their respective classrooms. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plan of Work Effective June 30, 2015 I have moved off of this project and Tyson Sorensen will move on to the project.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Accomplishments The two primary accomplishments between January and June of 2015 were the submission of three manuscripts for review related to objective 2 and the development of a curriculum library for teaching scientific concepts through the Agricultural Science I course. This curriculum package provides opportunities for high school students throughout Utah to learn and apply the scientific method in agricultural context.

Publications

Progress 08/01/14 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audience Target audiences impacted by this year's activities included primarily high school agriculture teachers and teacher educators and to a certain extent school administrators and secondary agriculture students. A longer term impact might be realized by university recruiters and advisors, agricultural industry human resources personnel and the agriculture industry in general as we seek individuals who are prepared to take the technical and science-based jobs in agriculture. Changes/Problems: Changes/Problems At this point, there have been no changes to the objectives or plan of work for this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Opportunities Professional development workshops were presented in February and in June to help Utah secondary agriculture teachers learn to implement the curriculum package that was developed for the animal science course. Focus was placed on the integration of STEM concepts in the curriculum. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Dissemination The results of a research study on the impact of the integration of algebra with an animal science livestock nutrition lesson were presented at a national agricultural education research conference in May and a manuscript is currently being prepared for submission to a peer reviewed academic journal. Further, two curriculum libraries were published and disseminated to high school agriculture teachers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Plan of Work Three journal articles directly related to this project are in the preparation stages with a target submission date of all three for January 2015. The next step related to the research project focuses on Objective 1 and will include focus group interviews with College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences students to help determine the impact of their high school agricultural education experience on their STEM career decision making. Following the focus group interviews, a survey instrument will be developed to further assess the impact of these programs.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Accomplishments The primary accomplishments during this calendar year have focused on objective 2 - evaluate the impact of the integration of science and math into agricultural education on academic achievement in STEM related areas. It was found that students who were taught science and math concepts integrated within a context of agriculture perform at least as well academically as their counterparts who were taught without the integration. Further, high school agriculture teachers in Utah now have two additional curriculum resource libraries that include lesson integrating science and math with livestock production and agricultural systems (agricultural mechanics) courses.

Publications

Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Gardner, A. C., Lawver, B. G., Warnick, B. K. (2014). Utah Agricultural Education Animal Science I Curriculum Materials. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah State Office of Education Career and Technical Education.
Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Warnick, B. K., Lawver, B. G. (2014). Utah Agricultural Education Agricultural Systems and Technology Curriculum Materials. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah State Office of Education Career and Technical Education
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Conference Proceedings Gardner, A. C., Warnick, B. K., Lawver, B. G. (2014). In McKim, B. R. & Rayfield, J. (Ed.), Effects of Integrating Mathematical Concepts into an Animal Science Curriculum (vol. 41, pp. 397-410). American Association for Agricultural Education.