Progress 03/01/24 to 02/28/25
Outputs
Target Audience:One of the teachers in the program could not complete the graduate course that was required so he is no longer part of the program. Over the past year, two other teachers retired so the target population is now 10 social studies teachers in South Carolina that met the criteria defined in the original proposal. Five of the 12 teachers work at schools with federal Title 1 designation. Changes/Problems:Due to many delays from COVID-19, some of the activities with the SOCIAL Fellows were delayed, creatingchallenges in the rate of expenditure on the project. A one-year no-cost extension was requested and approved in January of 2025 to allow us to complete the objectives of the project. Additionally, one of the major problems during this reporting period is the challenge of several SOCIAL Fellows' school districts that did not allow data collection from students in the study by Audie Cherry's dissertation. School districts vary across South Carolina in their rules for data collection on students. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The primary dissemination of results to communities of interest for this reporting period were those presentations given in oral presentations and poster sessions at the national meeting of the Southern Agricultural Educators (American Association for Agricultural Education - SAAAE) in February of 2024and one other posterwaspresented at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) national conference in June 2024. One of the posters was based on a qualitative research study that ourgraduate students developed from the project and was presented at Clemson's College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences Research Symposium in September, 2024. Walker Reid presented findings he developed from his research on this project that were in his Thesis. This paper was recognized as one of the best five research papers at our Southern Region Research Conference in February 2024: https://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2025/02/AG_Literacy_Assessment_walker-reid-saas-24-final.pdf Audie Cherry, a Ph.D. student in our program, who worked with us on some SOCIAL projects, presented a research poster at the 2024 NACTA Conference in Wooster, OH: https://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2025/02/NACTA_2024-poster-social.pdf Audie also presented this poster at the 2024 CAFLS Graduate Research Symposium in September 2024: https://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2025/02/CAFLS-Symp-Poster_2024-dale.pdf What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The quantitative and qualitative data collection with the SOCIAL Teacher Fellows provided by Audie Cherry's study for his dissertation will be completed by August 2025. These findings should provide the basis to support the final objective (3) of this project:Evaluate the extent to which teacher fellows: (a) integrate history and agriculture in their social studies curricula; (b) improve their knowledge of FAS careers; and (c) use SOCIAL Studies Academy curricula tools for inquiry-based learning. Thedissertation will be developed into two peer-reviewed (quantitative and qualitative) submissions for the 2026 Southern Region AAAE Conference in early February. Following feedback from the conference presentations, both manuscripts will be revised and submitted to the Journal of Agricultural Education. This information will also be included in the Final Report for this project, along with all materials developed during the dissertation as part of a model from the program.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Hydroponic Garden Club Initiated by SOCIAL Teacher Fellow & Colleague At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, Teacher Fellow Nora McMillan and her colleague initiated a hydroponic garden club at Starr-Iva Middle School in a remote community in upstate South Carolina. The objective of the club was to foster agricultural literacy and to provide learning opportunities for scientific aspects, such as plant nutrient needs, STEM topics, and water issues. The teachers were provided 10 indoor hydroponic gardens as well as the necessary materials and a variety of seeds. Originally planned to have 15-20 students had grown to 30. The school provided 30 minutes every Friday for club day, allowing the students to maintain the hydroponic gardens, while also learning concepts related to the project. Students visited the gardens between the weekly meetings to help with garden maintenance. These activities were supported by the SOCIAL project. Supporting Documents This link provides some photos that Fellow Nora McMillan provided of students setting up the hydroponic gardens and some of the products:https://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2025/02/starr-iva_garden_club.pdf Ph.D. Student Dissertation One of Dr. Layfield's Ph.D. students who worked some with the SOCIAL project, Audie Cherry, is working with some of the SOCIAL Fellows (teachers) in the project on a mixed-methods study related to the middle school students of the project. Many of our schools would not allow research to be conducted with students, but four of the schools did allow data collection, and this process was ongoing as of the time this report was being developed. Mr. Cherry developed a one-day lesson (PowerPoint presentation) for each teacher in the study to present to their students in each class. Before the students were given the lesson, the teachers administered a pre-survey to establish student's perceptions regarding agriculture and agricultural careers. After the lesson, the teachers engaged the students in planting seeds in hydroponic garden systems (provided by the project) to foster student interest in agriculture. Students then completed a post-survey and those data will be analyzed to determine any impact the lesson had on student perceptions. Audie will also conduct individual interviews via Zoom with each teacher to collect qualitative data on teachers related to the project, also. The findings from this study will be the focus of Audie's dissertation and a model from this project will be provided to USDA-NIFA.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Reid, W., Layfield, K. D., Eck, C. J., & Park, D. (2024, February 3-6). An Agricultural Assessment of Social Studies Teachers in South Carolina. [Research Manuscript Presentation]. 2024 Southern Region AAAE Conference, Atlanta, GA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Rahman, S., Cherry, A. L., Donaldson, J. L., & Layfield, K. D. (2024, June 24-28). An agricultural study tour increases middle school social studies teachers agricultural knowledge and instructional practices [Poster Presentation]. 2024 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference, Wooster, OH, United States.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Cherry, A. L., Rahman, S., Layfield, K. D., & Donaldson, J. L. (submitted 06/30/2024; 2024, August 19-20). Cultivating agricultural literacy: A study of middle school social studies teachers perspectives and practices in South Carolina [Poster presentation]. Clemson University College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium, Clemson, SC, USA.
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Progress 03/01/23 to 02/29/24
Outputs
Target Audience:One of the teachers in the program could not complete the graduate course that was required so the target population is now 12 8th grade social studies teachers in South Carolina that met the criteria defined in the original proposal. Five of the 12 teachers work at schools with federal Title 1 designation. The 13 in the original program was intended to be 20 but COVID-19 impacted the number of applicants as program recruitment took place in the Fall of 2021. Changes/Problems:One of the changes that will take place are the school visits to each SOCIAL Fellow by Co-PI Bea Bailey to assess integration of the curriculum that was developed and to observe student projects that reflected agricultural literacy. Due to Dr. Bailey retiring in the previous year, she had to be re-hired into the university and the personnel process took much longer time than expected, so it was determined that she would visit the SOCIAL Fellows at their respective schools in the spring of 2024. Dr. Bailey will be able to evaluate the students' position statements from their participation in the agricultural literacy activities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The primary dissemination of results to communities of interest for this reporting period were those presentations given in poster sessions at the national meeting of Agricultural Educators (American Association for Agricultural Education - AAAE) in May of 2023 andtwo other posters were presented at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) national conference in June 2023. One of the posters was based on a qualitative research study that a graduate student working on the SOCIAL project conducted. Although listed under publications in this report, the links to the actual posters presensted at the AAAE and NACTA conferences are provided here: A Cross-disciplinary Approach to Agricultural Literacy at the Middle School Level: "Growing" Interest in Social Studies & Science Students Studies of Occupations, Culture, & Innovations toward Agricultural Literacy (SOCIAL): An Introduction Agricultural Study Tour Impact on Agricultural Literacy of Middle School Social Studies Teachers What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, I have already discussed with the 12 Fellows that we will purchase two Hydroponic Growing Systems for each of the SOCIAL Fellow's schools. I will ask the Social Fellows to engage their middle school science teacher and ask them and their students to participate in an experimental study that uses the Hydroponic growing systems, using Carolina Broadleaf Mustard seeds. A presentation will be given to all of the Fellows about freshwater issues. One system used for the control will have the Fellows plant the mustard seeds and use regular treatment of liquid fertilizer and the other system will have the experimental treatment applying the liquid fertilizer mix with a calculated level of "Instant Sea." The social studies students will develop an impact statement based on their reflections of the experiment and control, which both reflect the concept of CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture). One of the concept areas in the SOCIAL program was to focus on water in agriculture and these activities will highlight the current and future issues regarding water in agriculture. The SOCIAL Fellows will share their results in Zoom meetings with the project coordinators.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
After the SOCIAL Fellows returned from the SOCIAL Studies Academy across South Carolina, many of them planned a variety of activities with their students to engage them in exploration of different careers in agriculture throughout the 2022-23 school year. Here are three of those activities initiated by the SOCIAL Fellows at their local schools. Project 1 -- Big Water at Dutchman Creek Middle School in York, SC SOCIAL Fellow, Paul Johnson, an 8th grade social studies teacher at Dutchman Creek Middle School, worked with one of his fellow science teachers to initiate a program titled "Big Water." Big Water engaged students in agricultural careers exploration with social studies and science students. In cooperation with the science teacher, the students built and programmed specialized Arduino chips (computer chips) to automate watering systems for milkweed seedlings in a classroom. Each system contained soil moisture sensors, which activated the Arduino system to automatically pump water to the pots with seeds provided by a local agriculture teacher. Under the guidance of the science teacher, the students conducted a variety of experiments. Students recorded their findings in Google Sheets/Docs. Later, students constructed raised-bed keyhole gardens around the school where the milkweed plants were planted in those gardens. Dr. Layfield and Graduate Assistant, Audie Cherry, visited the school to observe the operation in January of 2023 and were engaged with some of the students. Anecdotal observations of the students' interest in the project were very strong. Supporting Documents Poster of "Big Water" Project Presented at the American Association for Agricultural Education Conference in May 2023 Project 2 -- 4-H/Social Studies Students Visit Clemson's College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences for Agricultural Career Exploration Social Fellow, Crystal Coleman, formed a 4-H club with her social studies students atRidge-Spring Middle School to engage them in a variety of studies on careers in agriculture. In March of 2023, Crystal and one of her school administrators brought her 4-H club of 34 members (social studies students) to Clemson University where they were taken on a tour of the automated/robotic milking machines at the university dairy. After their tour of the dairy, the students met with various majors across the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences to learn about the degree programs. Supporting Documents Itinerary for 4-H Member Visit to Clemson Photos of 4-H Members Visiting Clemson's LaMaster Dairy and Campus Project 3 -- Blind Rice Tasting for Exploring Careers in Agriculture at Hughest Elementary School in Greenville, SC Social Fellow Eric Austin, started a blind rice tasting with his students at Hughes Academy. Eric used this tasting of Carolina Gold, Charleston Gold and a regular long grain white rice as an interest approach to lead students into discussions of agricultural careers. Eric learned about the rice on his SOCIAL Academy tour in 2022 when he and other Fellows learned about efforts to increase salt tolerance of golden rice (golden rice had a strong impact on the colonial economy of the Carolinas and Georgia, thus providing a link to social studies). The new varieties of the golden rice will be used to grow in brackish and other waters on the coast. Discussion with students about the efforts in plant breeding and genetics provided for discussion of many cutting-edge careers in agriculture. Eric held the blind rice tasting at the beginning of the school year in 2022 and 2023.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Layfield, K. D., Johnson, P., Brandt, J., Ramsey, C., Cherry, A. L., Donaldson, J. L., Eck, C. J., and Bailey, B. (2023, May 17). A cross-disciplinary approach to agricultural literacy at the middle school level: "Growing" interest in social studies & science students. [Poster Presentation]. AAAE 2023 National Conference, Raleigh, NC. Abstract: http://www.agedweb.org/aaae/downloadfile.asp?ID=5677
http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2024/01/aaae-2-23-poster.pdf
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Layfield, K. D., Donaldson, J. L. & Bailey, B. N. (2023, June 21). Studies of Occupations, culture, & innovations toward agricultural literacy (SOCIAL): An introduction. [Poster Presentation]. 2023 NACTA Conference, Las Cruces, NM. Abstract: https://assets.swoogo.com/uploads/2686809-648ccbae2f510.pdf#page=139
Poster image: http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2024/01/social-intro-poster.pdf
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Reid, W., Layfield, K. D., Eck, C. J., Donaldson, J. L., Park, D. & Bailey, B. N. (2023, June 22). Agricultural study tour impact on agricultural literacy of middle school social studies teachers. [Poster Presentation]. 2023 NACTA Conference, Las Cruces, NM. Abstract: https://assets.swoogo.com/uploads/2686809-648ccbae2f510.pdf#page=108
Poster Image: http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2024/01/reid-poster-final-compressed.pdf
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Progress 03/01/22 to 02/28/23
Outputs
Target Audience: The target population was 13 8th grad social studies teachers in South Carolina that met the criteria defined in the original proposal. Five of the 13 teachers work at schools with federal Title 1 designation. Changes/Problems:During the recruitment period of the program, multiple invites to participate in the program were sent to the middle school social studies teachers. Additionally, endorsements/encouragement to participate were also sent by the Social Studies Education Associate in the Office of Standards and Learning South Carolina Department of Education. The planned number of participants, 20 teachers, resulted in 13. One of the teachers did not complete their Unit Plan assignment or other work in the graduate course, resulting in loss of this Fellow from the program, and one other Fellow changed schools and teaching assignment before school started, so the current number of Fellows engaged in the program is now at 11. While there are not enough funds to provide for the logistics of recruiting and facilitating a second summer academy for more teachers, the current cohort of 11 teachers are highly engaged in integrating FAS into the social studies curriculum as demonstrated by our formative program evaluation efforts. Furthermore, consistent with our evaluation results, participant support funds will be directed to in-depth, interdisciplinary agricultural literacy efforts at the classroom level (as described below). During the Fall semester of 2022, one of the Fellows was highly engaged with a colleague that teaches science at his middle school and shared his experiences in the summer academy. The two teachers initiated discussion with a local middle school agriculture teacher that had a program just miles from their school. The three teachers coordinated an interdisciplinary plan to use automatic irrigation DIY kits with self-watering systems with pollinator plants and emulate different scenarios with the plants, including increased salinity to address future problems many states in the US face. This program, which could serve as a model for the other Fellows in the program, is currently ongoing and leaders in the SOCIAL program are supporting this effort. In conversations with the Co-PIs, it was decided to offer the current Fellows a budget to follow this model of interdisciplinary work to engage not only social studies students, but also science and agriculture students, with the end goal of fostering more interest in food and agricultural sciences careers. This project will be guided by a new graduate assistant on the project in Spring 2023 and the Fellows will be offered the opportunity to participate in these activities starting in the summer of 2023 so they can plan to integrate their plans in the 2024-2024 school year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Throughout the SOCIAL Academy, Fellows were engaged in numerous hands-on workshops with research professors at the Agricultural Research and Education Centers (REC) across South Carolina. These activities supported objective two of this program, which is "Engage the teacher fellows in an immersive professional development experience througha summer tour highlighting modern agricultural production, thereby connecting them toagricultural occupations, culture, and innovations." Below are the itineraries and biographies of each of the daily programs and the presenters. Day 1 of Workshops -- Edisto REC Itinerary The Edisto Center is located in Blackville, SC with 2,354 acres for research. The primary research at Edisto is in the area of precision agriculture, using data for crop management decisions. At Edisto, Drs. Kendall and Plumblee shared techniques in water conservation remote sensing & application technologies with the Fellows. Itinerary - http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/edisto_rec_itinerary-compressed.pdf Dr. Kendall Kirk Bio http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/kendall-kirk-compressed.pdf Dr. Michael Plumblee Bio http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/plumblee-compressed.pdf Day 2 of Workshops -- Costal REC The 325 acres Coastal Center is located in Charleston, SC. The research and service of the center focus on vegetable and specialty crops. Fellows learned about the "Increasing Coastal Organic Rice Production" (iCORP ) project. Its focus is salt tolerant cultivars. Itinerary - http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/coastal_rec_itinerary.pdf Dr. Brian Ward Bio http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/brian_ward-compressed.pdf Day 3 of Workshops -- Baruch Institute The Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science in Georgetown, SC has collaborative research access to 80,000 acres of coastal lands. Dr. Stefanie Whitmire discussed how microplastics in water impact marine and coastal environments. Itinerary - http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/baruch-itinerary.pdf Dr. Stefanie Whitmire Bio http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/whitmire-compressed.pdf Day 4 of Workshops -- Pee Dee REC Itinerary The Pee Dee Center is located on 2,300 acres in Florence and Darlington counties. Research includes traditional and new plant-based systems. Dr. Francis Reay-Jones discussed the importance of Integrated Pest Management with cotton and other crops. Itinerary - http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/peedee_rec_itinerary-compressed-1.pdf Dr. Francis Reay Jones Bio http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/francis-reay-jones-compressed-1.pdf Day 5 of Workshops -- Sandhill REC Itinerary The Sandhill Center is located on 600 acres outside of Columbia, SC. Research areas include agribusiness, natural resources & environmental stewardship. Dr. Cory Heaton discussed the South Carolina pollinator project intended to restore habitats. Itinerary - http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/sandhill-rec-itinerary.pdf Dr. Cory Heaton Bio http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/heaton.pdf How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Some preliminary discussions regarding the program and the concept were shared with those in Social Studies and Agricultural Education communities in 2022. Below, abstracts or digital files of the presentations or posters are included to provide insight to how this information was shared at two national conferences and one event at Clemson University. Hagaman, M., Donaldson, J.L., Layfield, K.D., & Bailey, B. (2022). Increasing Agricultural Literacy in Social Studies Teachers through Transformative Travel Experiences. [Poster presentation]. North Central AAAE Conference, Columbia, MO. Conference Abstract https://aaaeonline.org/resources/Documents/North%20Central/2022Conference/2022Conference/2022%20NCAAAE%20Innovative%20Idea%20Poster%20Proceedings.pdf#page=35 Poster Presented http://blogs.clemson.edu/social/files/2022/12/central-hagaman.pdf McMillan, N., & Bailey, B. (2022) Does Ag Really Matter Here or There?: A Comparison of the Agricultural Sector's Civic Contributions in India and the U.S. [Presentation]. National Council for the Social Studies International Assembly Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To meet the goals stated above, the following activities will be conducted with the Fellows in the program. The work in the next two years will have the greatest impact in the area of objective three, which states "valuate the extent to which teacher fellows: (a) integrate history and agriculture in theirsocial studies curricula; (b) improve their knowledge of FAS careers; and (c) useSOCIAL Studies Academy curricula tools for inquiry-based learning." In the Spring of 2023, as based on the middle school social studies curriculum timeline, the Fellows will implement their unit plans that they developed in the graduate course in the Summer 2022 semester through Clemson University. Co-PI Dr. Beatrice Bailey will visit each of the Fellow's instructional programs throughout the state to observe implementation of the Unit plans with their students. In the Spring of 2024, a graduate assistant and Co-PI Dr. Donaldson will visit the Fellows' programs to complete final evaluations as planned in the program proposal.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
A major event was the SOCIAL Studies Academy, which took place from Sunday, June 12th to Friday, June 17th, 2022. After a recruitment campaign with middle school social studies teachers across South Carolina, thirteen teachers, were recognized at a kickoff event in Clemson as SOCIAL Fellows. The next day, the Fellows engaged in a week-long "SOCIAL Studies Academy" summer study tour with professional development workshops at Clemson's Research and Education Centers across South Carolina. Agricultural specialists covered topics at these locations that included precision agriculture, salt-tolerant rice production research, water, microplastics, integrated pest management, and pollinators (Objective 1). Following the SOCIAL Studies Academy, teachers completed a 3-credit hour graduate course during the remainder of the Summer (Objective 2). In this course, the Fellows developed curricula that will be implemented with their 8th grade Social Studies students in the 2022-23 school year (Objective 3).
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Hagaman, M., Donaldson, J.L., Layfield, K.D., & Bailey, B. (2022). Increasing Agricultural Literacy in Social Studies Teachers through Transformative Travel Experiences. [Poster presentation]. North Central AAAE Conference, Columbia, MO.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
McMillan, N., & Bailey, B. (2022) Does Ag Really Matter Here or There?: A Comparison of the Agricultural Sectors Civic Contributions in India and the U.S. [Presentation]. National Council for the Social Studies International Assembly Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Bailey, B. (2021). Encouraging Agricultural Literacy in SC Middle Schools.[Presentation]. South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Conference, Location: Virtual.
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Progress 03/01/21 to 02/28/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The Target Audience for this program are 20 8thgrad social studies teachers in South Carolina. We developed a list of all middle school principals of public, private and charter schools in South Carolina with e-mails and other contact information. An invitation/informational letter was developed by the team (Dr. Layfield, Dr. Bailey and Dr. Donaldson) and sent to each principal along with the link to the Qualtrics location where the application to participate in the program is available for the teachers. Also, anin-depth program overview was provided via a Web-link to a PDF.Middle School Principals (list developed by undergraduate student assistant) were sent an initial e-mail and a follow-up reminder 2 weeks later. The undergraduate student assistant also developed a list of 358 8thgrade level Social Studies Teachers, and they were provided the same details as the principals, one week after the reminder was sent to the principals.Applicationsfor the program will be reviewed by a selected panelbetween December 18th and January 15th.By the date of this report, there were 25 applicants and 13 applications in process, in the online form posted in Qualtrics. Changes/Problems:COVID-19 impacted the number of graduate students available for recruitment for the research assistant that was planned for this program. A recruitment flyer was sent out to the mailing list for the American Association of Agricultural Educators association in the spring of 2021 and student contacts were made, but a graduate student could never be secured for the program. An undergraduate student in Animal and VeterinarySciences at Clemson was hired to assist in the development of the e-mail lists of the principals of the middle school and the teachers, also. These lists were used for recruitment. The undergraduate assistant has also helped with developing lists of commodity groups and related organizations of the focus areas of the summer tour:cotton, water and bees. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Conduct research according to our objectives as established in this grant.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1 Currently, preliminary work over the past year focused primarily on Goal #1. Goal 1. Engage the teacher fellows in an immersive professional development experience througha summer tour highlighting modern agricultural production, thereby connecting them toagricultural occupations, culture, and innovations. Plans for the summer tour for the SOCIAL Fellows have been developed and planned since January 1, 2021. Drs. Bailet, Donaldson and Layfield planned the summer tour, to be held the week of June 12-16. Researchers at 4 of Clemson Universty's Research and Education Centers and also at the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences have been secured and plans developed for each of the researchers during the visit of the week identified above.
Publications
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