14 pages, University agricultural educators are challenged to employ innovative approaches to prepare undergraduates in agriculture and natural resources to address complex global problems while understanding interconnected systems. Undergraduates, current members of Generation Z (Gen Z), prefer environmental sustainability and innovation, but solutions for addressing these preferences in educational settings remain elusive. Exploring Gen Z’s environmental consumption values and how those values relate to their systems thinking tendencies may provide university educators with insights on how to best educate Gen Z students. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between Gen Z students’ green consumer values and systems thinking tendencies. Data were collected using a web-based survey instrument of 68 undergraduate students at the University of [state]. Findings revealed respondents somewhat agreed they had green consumer values and respondents often used systems thinking when seeking to make an improvement. A Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient indicated a positive, yet weak, association between systems thinking tendencies and green consumer values. The association necessitates further exploration. University agricultural educators should incorporate systems thinking educational tools into classrooms so Gen Z students can effectively engage in systems thinking when addressing complex agricultural issues, like sustainability. Additional implications for systems thinking teaching are explored.
11 pages, Individual background and demographics affect student perceptions of animal production. Understanding how science-based education alters these opinions is a critical aspect of improving university instruction as well as increasing consumer engagement in the poultry industry. The study objectives were to quantify the effects of student background, career interests, and science-based instruction on opinions regarding current issues in the poultry industry. Undergraduate students enrolled in a one semester poultry science course at Iowa State University between 2018 and 2021 were anonymously surveyed at the start and end of the semester as part of a 4-yr study. Students who opted to take the survey answered three demographic questions indicating their 1) livestock experience, 2) sex, and 3) career goals. The body of the survey consisted of 16 “poultry issue statements” where students were directed to mark a vertical dash on a 130 mm horizontal line indicating their level of agreement with each statement. Post-survey collection, the line was separated into 5 sections for discussion: responses within 0%–20% indicated strongly disagree, 21%–40% disagree, 41%–60% neutral, 61%–80% agree, and 81%–100% indicated strongly agree. Responses were analyzed using Proc Mixed in SAS Version 9.4 with a Tukey–Kramer adjustment for all pairwise comparisons using main effects including demographic categories, education (pre- or post-instruction), and year the survey was taken. Responses to various issue statements were affected by students’ livestock experience (P < 0.05; 6 out of 16 statements affected), sex (P < 0.05; 5 out of 16 statements), and ultimate career goals (P < 0.05; 4 out of 16 statements). Pre- vs. post-education responses differed significantly in 6 out of 16 statements (P < 0.05), and in 2 out of 16 poultry issue statements, the year of instruction affected student response (P < 0.05). These data indicate that individual student background, sex, and differing career interests impact opinions of current topics in the broiler and layer industries. Further, science-based education as well as the year the course was taken over consecutive semesters significantly altered student opinions.
3pgs, The program will pair high school and college students in what’s called a “near peer” model to help ease the minority participants into the mentorship.
14 pages, Agriculturalists can be divided into broad ideological camps with differing value sets. While many different groups exist, there are two primary ideological groups: (1) conventional or agrarian populists and (2) non-conventional or neo-agrarians. Agricultural education students’ values about agriculture shape how they will work in their future classrooms, schools, and communities, as well as how they will interact with students and community members. The purpose of this narrative study was to describe undergraduate agricultural education students’ conceptualization of their values about agriculture. The findings from this study highlighted the polarization of ideologies in American agriculture. The agricultural education students’ conceptualization of agricultural values was largely conventional. Some students formed conventional agriculture values as they grew up, while other students experienced a change of their values towards conventional attitudes while in college. Students’ responses to others with differing values ranged from indifferent to negative. These differences indicate a real challenge for post-secondary agricultural educators. Students have the right to maintain their own values in agriculture, however they must be able to work with others who have differing values. Research is needed to evaluate effective ways to help students learn how to work with people who have differing agricultural values.
3 pages, The University of Missouri Integrated STEM Internship Program (MU-ISIP) is a 9-week internship experience that helps prepare undergraduates for the workforce or graduate school in four AFRI areas: (a) plant health and production, (b) animal health and production, (c) food safety, nutrition and health, and (d) agricultural economics and rural communities. This program helps address the need for the next generation of agriculturalists and food scientists through experiential learning. Additionally, it exposes undergraduates to Extension as a career option. This article outlines our approach to MU-ISIP and lessons learned during the program’s inception.
17 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This quantitative study sought to investigate the perceptions of teachers and students regarding competency-based education (CBE) principles at the College of Agriculture at Razi University.
Design: This research is a comparative analysis of two groups. The first group consists of undergraduate and graduate students majoring in agriculture who are members and non-members of student cooperatives (n = 256). The second group consists of agricultural faculty members (n = 59).
Findings: The results of this study show that students and teachers have different views with regard to the extent to which CBE principles are practiced in the College of Agriculture. Moreover, students with different learning patterns had different perceptions regarding the extent to which CBE is practiced, whereas teachers with different teaching patterns had the same perception of the application of CBE principles in the College of Agriculture.
Practical implications: This study has practical implications for agricultural higher education in general and colleges of agriculture in particular. Colleges of agriculture across Iran could encourage their students to establish and engage in student cooperatives so that the ‘what’ and ‘how’ aspects of CBE are put into practice.
Theoretical implications: This study has theoretical implications for CBE principles. For example, student cooperatives can be utilized by faculty members as one of the main strategies for developing CBE in agricultural colleges.
Originality/value: This study is original in that it moves from theory to practice when considering CBE.
5 pages., Via online journal., Food security is a growing global concern. To meet the needs of an ever-growing population, food production practices will need to evolve to maximize food quantity and quality. Controlled-environment food production has increased significantly in the United States over the past 5 years, and a component of that production includes hydroponic food crops. In an effort to better prepare a workforce with knowledge of hydroponic crop production, a new course was added to an existing greenhouse curriculum. A service-learning project was integrated in the course that allowed students to experience both growing crops hydroponically and volunteering at a local food bank with a free meal program. Self-assessment showed a significant increase in student confidence in understanding food security by the end of the course. There was also a significant knowledge gained in defining terminology, factors, and the impact of food security in a community. The three guided reflections students completed during the course identified four common themes relative to the course content and service-learning project including the following: community benefits, value of volunteering, local and global effects of food insecurity, and personal growth.
20 pages; Article 3, via online journal, Student-run publications, including newsrooms and similar agency-style work achieve the curricular goal of experiential learning (Roberts, 2006) for university agricultural communication students. Gaining a journalistic skillset in the classroom is richly supplemented with experiencing real-world and authentic agency immersion to reveal to students the genuine characteristics of a workplace. The purpose of this study was to use Q methodology to evaluate a real-world, out-of-class-but-supervised newsroom producing publications for the State FFA Convention. Fifteen undergraduate students who were immersed in this three-day program in which students publish original work to disseminate information to FFA participants and the public participated in the study at the end of the newsroom experience. With a concourse sampled along four dimensions of growth and development (Author, 2014), a Q set of 36 statements was sorted. In addition to the Q sorts, comments gathered from the students at the last session assisted in the interpretation of data. Post-sort interviews were conducted with exemplar sorters. Data were analyzed using principal components and varimax rotation and interpreted to show three ways the newsroom was experienced by the university students. The Supervisors honed managerial skills while working as colleagues with faculty supervisors. The Contented Staff valued the education gained from the experience and recognized the practical application of the communications-based skill-set. The Stressed Staff had insecurities and physical discomfort during the work and living in the city. Implications for program development, classroom instruction, and field experience assessment will be discussed.
Harsh, Jessica (author), Lamm, Alexa (author), Telg, Ricky (author), and Meyers, Courtney (author)
Format:
Paper abstract
Publication Date:
2018-02
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 199 Document Number: D10019
Notes:
Abstract of paper presented at the National Agricultural Communications Symposium, Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) Agricultural Communications Section, Jacksonville, Florida, February 4-5, 2018.
4 pages., Via journal article., Learning by doing plays a critical role in a learner’s conceptual understanding. By actively engaging with a concept, students gain experience and develop an enduring understanding of the concept. The concept of pollen viability is a critical component in the field of plant breeding and can be used to explain various aspects of pollen quality. An inquiry activity was designed to expose undergraduate students in a horticulture course to the concept of pollen viability and its application. The entire class was tasked with collaborating to identify an in vitro germination medium optimized to germinate plumeria (Plumeria rubra) pollen. To determine optimum sucrose and pH concentrations of the medium, student groups were assigned treatments of pollen from two plumeria cultivars that were germinated in Brewbaker and Kwack media of differing sucrose and pH concentrations. Students calculated the percentage of germinated pollen and assessed pollen tube integrity and used these variables as evidence of an optimized medium. Although undergraduates were engaged in authentic research practices during the inquiry activity, lack of time and resources impeded completion of the activity. However, students were exposed to methods and instrumentation directly related to evaluating pollen viability. Moreover, they were exposed to the basic practice of pollen quality assessment that they can use to carry out investigations on pollen fertility. In addition, insight was gained to improve the inquiry activity in the future. Now, well-informed modifications to the inquiry activity can be made to pilot this activity in a formal horticulture laboratory section.
