Source: MICHIGAN STATE UNIV submitted to
DEVELOPING A CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK FOR AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL BASED ON THE AGRICULTURE, FOOD, AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Sponsoring Institution
State Agricultural Experiment Station
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0208992
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
MICL03435
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2006
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2011
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Rivera, J. E.
Recipient Organization
MICHIGAN STATE UNIV
(N/A)
EAST LANSING,MI 48824
Performing Department
DEPT OF COMMUNITY, AGRICULTURE, RECREATION & RESOURCE STUDIES
Non Technical Summary
A.Nationally, agricultural education is beginning to develop and adopt state standards based on the States ANR Career Cluster. This becomes a problem for individual states with how they will adopt (if they adopt) national standards, specifically Michigan. B.The Michigan State Board of Education is in favor of developing standards and curriculum in CTE programs based on the States Career Clusters. How are they going to make this transition and still meet the needs of Michigans CTE programs? A.Curriculum needed for an effective system of agricultural science education has changed drastically in recent decades, but no research is available to establish the content or student outcomes that meet the unique needs of Michigan agriculture industry or workers or to meet Michigan Learning Standards. This study will provide a basis for needed programmatic and curriculum reform of agricultural science education in Michigan. B.The project will result in the development of a core curriculum framework for agricultural science education for Michigan, including content and student outcomes consistent with and supportive of Michigan Learning Standards and based on that Career Clusters ANR framework.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
40%
Developmental
40%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
9016050302025%
9036050302075%
Goals / Objectives
For most of the last century the primary focus of secondary agricultural education was entry-level job preparation for agriculture workers, primarily farmers. In the mid 1980s a shift away from a singular focus on vocational preparation and toward a more balanced science-based approach to agricultural education began to take hold nationally. In Michigan, this shift has led to a state agricultural education curriculum cross-walked with state academic standards in science and math. This curriculum has been designed and developed primarily by the teachers. This results in a curriculum that has been a generally uncoordinated series of local initiatives with a wide range of quality and content for various criterion. Currently, under the leadership of The National Council for Agricultural Education (The Council), a new reform movement is changing the face of agriculture education. Included in the 2004-2007 Strategic Plan drafted by The Council is a major goal to develop national curriculum standards for secondary agricultural education that align with the career clusters pathways. Major efforts to develop career clusters to form the basis for career and technical education have been underway in this country at least since the 1970s. Recent efforts have given rise to a series of 16 career clusters recognized by the United States Department of Education (Wonacott, 2000). The Career Pathways Model for the Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources cluster, was developed through a grant from the USDA. With the adoption of standards leading the direction of agricultural education at the national level many states are looking at the Agricultural, Food, and Natural Resources Clusters as a foundation for developing their state standards and curriculum in agricultural education. Currently, the Michigan State Board of Education (MSBE) is adapting its current secondary career and technical programs (CTE) programs to become aligned with the Career Clusters (Career Clusters, 2006). Within this next year they are undertaking the task of revising three programs, one of them being agricultural science education. There is a Michigan agriscience education curriculum that the teachers statewide adhere to. Revision of this curriculum changes the face of agricultural science education and is a task that needs to be undertaken with involvement from all stakeholders, specifically the agricultural science educators. The main objective of this project is to develop and propose a core curriculum framework* for agricultural science education based on the Career Clusters and integrated with the current state curriculum. *A complete curriculum includes very detailed specifications along with extensive reference materials and student handouts, often even providing complete lesson plans for teacher use. Typically a complete curriculum is based on a curriculum framework, which is much less detailed and usually consists of a topic outline or a list of student competencies. Development of a full curriculum is beyond the scope of this project. This project will develop a curriculum framework in the form of a list of student competencies stated in task format.
Project Methods
This study will take approximately twelve months to accomplish. The steps taken will be: 1.Review and synthesize literature related to the study. 2.Identify existing exemplary state agricultural science education programs. 3.Conduct content analysis of exemplary program documents. 4.Conduct focus groups of teachers and stakeholders to develop operational definition of Agricultural Science Education for Michigan. 5.Establish curriculum framework using the Career Clusters Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources model as a foundation. 6.Conduct Delphi studies of NYS teachers and stakeholders to establish student-learning outcomes consistent with the Career Clusters framework and Michigan Learning Standards. (Funding may be needed for this portion of the project, so it may not occur on this project).

Progress 10/01/06 to 09/30/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Objective one. Review and synthesize literature related to the study. This was conducted using the electronic library database at MSU. Major search items included subject areas such as curriculum design, curriculum theory, agriculture and natural resources education, learning standards, program standards, Career Clusters, and standard development. Journal articles were reviewed from 20 educational journals that specifically deal with curriculum and 3 journals that focus on agriculture and natural resources education. Books were also reviewed that dealt with the noted subject areas. Objectives two and three. Identify existing exemplary state agricultural science education programs and conduct content analysis of exemplary program documents. Three states have been reviewed- Illinois, New York, and Virginia. Other states are currently being identified for further review this year. Two of the states reviewed are driven from state standards and guidelines, while one of the states is driven by local autonomy of the agriculture and natural resources program. This differentiation between the states is being considered and integrated into the design of the study. Content analysis of the documents is currently being conducted using Nvivo software. Codes are being developed by the researcher and other agriculture and natural resources faculty. Objective four. Teachers are being identified as possible participants for scheduled focus groups. The instrument guide for the focus groups has not been developed yet as more research needs to be done on objectives two and three. However, the teachers have been made aware of this project at the Fall teacher professional development institute. PARTICIPANTS: William Camp. Cornell Department of Education Program Leader in Agricultural Science Education. Provided background information on how to begin preliminary steps of the project. Provided information regarding curriculum development for secondary agricultural science education programs in the state of New York and Virginia. Neil Knobloch. Former University of Illinois Assistant Professor for agriculture and natural resources education. Provided information regarding curriculum development for secondary agriculture education programs in the state of Illinois. Randy Showerman. Michigan Department of Education Program Leader in Agriscience and Natural Resources Education. Provided background history of curriculum development in Michigan. Transfers knowledge of curriculum and assessment mandates from MDE to the research team. TARGET AUDIENCES: Michigan Department of Education. Department of Career and Technical Education Ferris State University. Career and Technical Education Curriculum Center Michigan Association of Agriscience Educators The National Council For Agricultural Education

Impacts
At this point of the study, no outcomes have solidified in terms of curriculum framework development. However, a few impacts have been noted while preliminary steps of the project have been developed. These are other states interest and desired involvement with the project, Michigan Department of Education interest in the findings and how they effect secondary curriculum and assessment in agriculture and natural resources education at the secondary level, and teacher inquiry as to how a curriculum framework will effect their programs. Inquiry in regards to objective one has led to the development of a larger MAES project conducted by the research focused on the amalgamation of curriculum practice and curriculum theory within career and technical education programs.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period