In 2001, California
State University, Fresno was awarded funds by the United
States Department of Agriculture to implement the
Agricultural Education Curriculum Innovation Project, a
three-year collaborative project between the College of
Agricultural Sciences and Technology and the Kremen School
of Education and Human Development (KSOEHD).
The
project focuses on two themes: 1) to educate children in
Fresno County schools (grades K-8) about the importance of
agriculture to our society and the many
CREAD
educational and career opportunities available within the
industry, and 2) to integrate agricultural education and
awareness into the daily activities in K-8 classrooms
throughout the Central Valley of California by preparing and
supporting teachers with an agriculture-related knowledge
base and accompanying resources.
Objective 1: Develop,
implement, and evaluate multiple subject (K-8) teacher
education components with an agricultural education
emphasis.
Two
professors in the KSOEHD teacher education program were
recruited to modify their existing required teacher
preparation class, Curriculum and Instruction in the
Elementary School (CTET 150) by adding an
agriculture-related component to four sections of the class.
Students in all four classes completed a pre- and post-test
(see Appendix A) designed to measure their knowledge of and
attitudes toward using an agriculture-based curriculum in
the classroom. All students were required to develop a
standards-based thematic unit as a requirement in the class.
However two sections, one from each professor, were required
to develop their thematic units with an agricultural theme.
The students who had the added exposure to using agriculture
in the K-8 curriculum by being required to develop an
agriculture-related curriculum unit, had significantly
higher increases in their attitudes toward and knowledge of
teaching agriculture in the classroom on most items compared
to the group who had the general curriculum assignment.
However, both groups made significant increases in knowledge
and significant improvement of their attitude toward
agriculture in the classroom on most items as a result of
inclusion of agriculture-related materials in their
curriculum course.
Objective 2: Promote the
teaching of agriculture across the curriculum to county and
district administrators and curriculum specialists to garner
support for participating teachers.
A
training session for school district administrators will be
held during the second year of the project, as described in
the original project proposal. Planning for the training
session will begin in the Fall of 2002.
Objective 3: Develop/implement
a recruitment plan to recruit 20 minority students into
teaching programs that emphasize the use of
agriculture-related curriculum and materials.
In
order to address the need for additional student recruitment
into the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology,
Ms. Lonna Torrico, Director of the Central Valley Ag
Literacy Program met with a variety of individuals and
groups from local community colleges and school districts to
discuss the agricultural education program and the desire
for recruitment of individuals into the Liberal Studies
program at California State University, Fresno. In addition,
Ms. Torrico presented information about the project and its
recruitment efforts at a number of statewide and national
teacher professional organizations including; California
Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom State Conference
in Fresno, California; Fresno County Farm Bureau Summer
Agricultural Seminar; California League of Middle Schools
State Conference in San Francisco, California; and the
National Association of State Universities and Land Grant
Colleges in Washington D.C.
This
grant-funded program is being implemented as planned. The
collaboration between the two schools is working well and
the program goals are being met on the timeline projected
for the project. Results of the study indicate that
introduction of agriculture-related content in a teacher
preparation course is a highly effective method for
imparting knowledge and improving teacher attitudes toward
agriculture.
