Engaging Urban K-12 Agriculture-Science
Education by Training the Trainers
Stephany Alvarez-Ventura, Mahadev Bhat, and Krish Jayachandran
Florida International University
Introduction
The Problem:
In the urban setting, many teachers find themselves unequipped to integrate agriculture intoclassroom curriculum. Research has shown that there is a lack of basic understanding of agri-food systems in our society and a lack of developmental planning in
integrating agri-food systems education in the school curricula (Trexler et al. 2000; Leising and Zilbert 1994).
The
Solution:
As such, the Agroecology Program atFlorida International University (FIU), a minority –serving, urban university, has designed a week-long workshop to train K-12 urban school teachers in food and agriculture sciences, and to help them integrate relevant concepts into their school curricula. The workshop has been
conducted for three alternating summers (2006, 2008, and 2010).
The Goal
:
To help build agri-science education in K-12 schools by fostering a relationship between schoolteachers, post secondary professors, and relevant local government and non-profit institutions.
How:
By addressing agri-science and sustainability issues from multiple angles: farm, environmental and ecological aspects, local food systems and availability, local andnational policies, and social issues.
Purpose of study:
(1) To measure the effectiveness and long-term
educational and curricular impact of the workshop. (2) Identify strategies for workshop improvement.
Methodology
Workshop evaluation results
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank all the workshop participants for their time in applying the agroecology concepts learned and filling out the survey. Funding for this project was provided by the USDA NIFA Hispanic Serving Institutions Higher Education Grant #2008-38422-19209. If
interested in any of the FIU Agroecology Program’s scholarships or
internships, please contact Dr. MahadevBhat (bhatm@fiu.edu), or Dr. Krish Jayachandran (jayachan@fiu.edu).
Literature cited
Johnson, Donald M. Johnson; Wardlow, George W.; and Franklin, Timothy. 1997. Hands-on activities versus worksheets in reinforcing physical science principals: Effects on student achievement and attitude. Journal of Agricultural Education Vol. 38, No 3: 9-17.
Leising, J., and Zilbert, E. 1994. Validation of the California agriculture literacy framework. Proceedings of the twenty-first National Agricultural Education Research Meeting, 112-119.
McAleese, Jessica D. and Rankin, Linda L. 2007. Garden-based nutrition education affects fruit and vegetable consumption in sixth-grade adolescents. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. April: 662-665
Trexler, Cary J.; Johnson, Thomas; and Heinze, Kirk. 2000. Elementary and Middle school teacher ideas about the agri-food system and their evaluation of agri-system stakeholders’ suggestions for education. Journal of Agricultural Education Vol. 41 Issue 1:30-38.
Conclusions
These results demonstrate that workshops to train urban school teachers can make a significant impact in promoting food and agriculture education in K-12 schools. Over time the workshop has improved in content, presentation quality, and logistics.
Most teachers considered fieldtrips /demonstrations to be the most beneficial aspect of the workshop. The long term impact survey demonstrates that teachers are integrating agroecology concepts into their school curricula with positive student
feedback, primarily from agri-related lab experiments and
school gardens. While most teachers incorporated agroecology concepts into their lesson plans, hands-on activities were most successful in both the workshop and with school-level
curricular incorporation. This approach is obviously a better method of improving student positive attitude toward agri-science, which is a key factor in improving long term
understanding of agri-food systems and sustainability (Johnson 1997). By training non-agri-science teachers on agroecology
concepts, urban students can receive proper training in food and agri-sciences.
Workshop Agenda:
Day 1-2
• Lectures on:
• Agroecology principles/concepts
• Management, challenges
• Agri-science experiential learning
• Open discussion
•Day 3-5
• Field Trips to local resources
• Local USDA facilities
• Community gardens
• Local farming community
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Covered useful material Relevant to my teaching Topics well organized Level of vigor Breadth of topics covered Fieldtrips/demonstrations Overall workshop objectives met
Percentage of Agreeing Respondents
W
Percentage of "Excellent" rating on workshop Content
2010 2008 2006
Figure 1: After participating in 2010 workshop, Cathy
Bellinghieri educated her 2nd
grade class at Gulfstream Elementary about gardening and local food systems
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Percentage of agreeing respondents
W
Percentage of "Excellent" rating on workshop Logistics Speakers covered materials fully Speakers responded to questions
Chance to interact with other participants
Percentage of agreeing respondents
P
Percentage of "Excellent" rating on workshop Presentation Quality
2010 2008 2006
After completing the workshop, participants filled out a
survey to evaluate the workshop’s effectiveness at
meeting its goals. A long term survey was conducted in March 2011 to evaluate whether or not participants
integrated agroecology concepts learned.
15%
71% 14%
Survey response to the most beneficial part of the workshop
Lectures
Breadth of topics covered Field trips/demonstrations visual aids and handouts
interact with other participants Other
None
• 95% strongly agreed the workshop increased their understanding of food and agriculture issues.
• 99% of all the responses were either excellent or very good
Assessment of long-term impacts results
Concept
Established or expanded garden
projects on school 64% 57%
Incorporated sustainable agriculture/garden concepts into lesson plan
86% 21%
Initiated a community garden 7% 0%
Rain water harvesting 36% 14%
Hydroponics 7% 7%
Food-related business,
marketing & econ study 21% 0%
Field trip(s) 50% 36%
Agri-related lab experiments 64% 64%
Compost 43% 7%
Other 21% 0%
Survey results included 40% (n=14) of all participants - 71% were 2010 participants
• 86% strongly agreed the workshop greatly
increased their understanding of food and agriculture issues.
• 71% strongly agreed the workshop greatly
increased their knowledge on food and agriculture education opportunity for k-12 students
•50% indicated they wanted the program to stay engaged with the schools to ensure proper agro-science integration
Photo credit: Cathy Bellinghieri
Evaluation of Workshop
•Quantitative and Qualitative Impacts
•Improved understanding of agri-science concepts and educational resources
•Measurement of satisfaction toward various aspects of the workshop
•Content
•Presentation quality
•Logistics
•Strategies for workshop improvement
•Relevance of sessions
Assessment of Long term Impact
•Quantitative and Qualitative Impacts•Improved understanding of agri-science concepts and educational resources
•Level of integration of agroecology concepts and its effectiveness
•Measurement of satisfaction toward the workshop
Recommendations for
workshop improvement
After receiving the long term integration survey, we were able to identify new strategies for improvement.
What agroecology concepts were truly learned? In order to determine true understanding and integration of
agroecology concepts learned in the workshop, a one day refresher workshop should be created where participants would be quizzed on the subject matter. Another tool
would be to develop a monthly newsletter that would
highlight successful lab experiments, fieldtrips and provide educational material. Combined with effective, long-term strategies, this workshop can continue to bring urban
students better opportunities to learn about agri-food systems by training their trainers on this major societal issue.
The agroecology workshop was awesome at
FIU. I learned a lot of new information, met very important contacts, and reinforced what I
