Interactive Agricultural Experiences of 4th Grade Students in the Arid Southwest: An Examination of the Impact of Hands-On Learning Experiences as a Component of Agriculture in the Classroom Curriculum

Abstract

There exists a general belief among K-16 educators as well as scientists that people must be scientifically and agriculturally literate in order to make wise and informed economic and political decisions about the use of renewable resources (Cardwell, 1994). Each State approaches Agriculture in the Classroom from the basis of its own needs and resources and is responsible for organization, funding, public outreach, materials development and teacher training (Traxler, 1990). The introduction of score-based funding as well as statewide implementation of standardized testing coupled with the ever-increasing importance of agricultural knowledge of the general population in areas with resource management issues has made the issue of agricultural education in arid regions very important. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of various types of Agriculture in the Classroom curriculums and instruction on the agricultural arid lands literacy of 4th grade students. A pre-test/post-test analysis was administered to 21 classrooms in a Public School District in order to compare the agricultural literacy scores of students who participated in an agricultural fieldtrip experience with students who received the same materials in the form of a four-day arid lands curriculum, those who received both the field trip and curriculum, and those who did not receive any form of agricultural education module. The three treatment groups scored significantly higher on the agricultural arid lands literacy test than the control group. It was also discovered that there was no statistically significant difference between the results of three levels of treatment. However, all three treatments were statistically higher than the control group.