How should these questions be answered? What is missing?

Hopefully, you immediately recognize that passing a test does not mean one can perform in an actual situation. The learner may know how to do something but may not be able to do it. The teacher needs to carry the teaching one step further—to the application stage—and one place to apply what was taught about sharpening a lawn mower blade is in the agricultural mechanics laboratory.

RATIONALE FOR LABORATORY LEARNING

The teacher of agriculture must realize that laboratories for agricultural instruction do not exist based on tradition. Rather, laboratories are a crucial component of the teaching-learning program for education in agriculture.

The purpose of laboratories is to provide organized and systematic instruction. This instruction is of two types: (1) group instruction and (2) individual instruction.

This chapter is limited to examining school laboratories. Table 9-1 indicates some of the types of laboratories in several specialty areas of agricultural instruction that are addressed in this chapter. Laboratory instruction is well grounded in the fundamentals of learning. Without the laboratory, much of the effectiveness of agricultural instruction is lost.

Table 9-1: School laboratories

The Need for Application of Learning

The whole notion of learning-by-doing is a very important psychological construct. Consider the following principles of learning (see Chapter 2) on which the agricultural laboratory is able to draw in improving the quantity and quality of learning.

Principles of Learning Which Support the Value of Application

1. Students must be motivated to learn. Learning activities should be provided that consider the wants, needs, interests, and aspirations of students.
2. Students are motivated through their involvement in setting goals and planning learning activities.
3. Students are motivated when they attempt tasks that are challenging to a degree that success is perceived to be possible but not certain.
4. Students learn what they practice.
5. Supervised practice that is most effective occurs in a functional educational experience.
6. Directed learning is more effective than undirected learning.
7. To maximize learning, students should inquire into rather than be instructed in the subject matter. Problem-oriented approaches to teaching improve learning.
8. When students have knowledge of their learning progress, performance is superior to what it would have been without such knowledge.

One must realize that agricultural instruction needs to go beyond learning about theory and practice. A career and technology education course should provide students with the material they are studying in realistic situations, solving actual problems. For example, knowing how to build a wildlife habitat is not enough. The student must be able to actually construct a wildlife habitat. In essence, unless a good deal of what is learned is used, the instruction falls short of being career oriented. Teachers of agriculture who do not provide mechanisms for their students to apply that which has been learned in a functional setting are, in reality, not effective agriculture teachers but are informational agriculture teachers.

The informational agriculture teacher teaches students the steps to follow in establishing a seedbed and then tests their mastery of the concepts. The effective agriculture teacher teaches this information also, but in a skill development context. The teacher ensures the students have in mind a concrete frame of reference, such as their supervised experience or lab project. Once students have learned the essential concepts (or in some cases, as they learn them), the teacher makes sure that the students practice the use of these concepts in a real setting so that the students develop not only “head knowledge” but also the specific ability to do the task as well.

When students are able to practice what they have learned, they have completed the teaching-learning cycle. As students apply what they have studied they are better able to see the real meaning of theory. They have a concrete idea of relationships and better understand concepts that are interrelated. They are also better able to understand the reasons why certain practices are called “approved practices.” Application is a vital step in problem solving. It is the testing of tentative conclusions. This period of application also provides a meaningful forum wherein to provide feedback to students regarding how well they understood the basic concepts and principles taught in class. The laboratory is one of the places for this application to take place.

FUNCTIONS OF APPLICATION IN LABORATORY LEARNING

Application in laboratory learning provides students with an opportunity to develop manipulative skills. Certainly, this is a crucial function and one that the laboratory serves well. Without the laboratory, students would merely gain an idea of the specific skills they need in an occupation. For example, horticulture students would know that they need to be able to stake a tree properly. However, by being able to go to the laboratory and actually stake trees, students develop specific proficiency. Not only do they have a chance to practice the manipulative skills that the teacher has taught and demonstrated but they also have the opportunity to master (at least at an entry level) the manipulative skills that they need for success in their chosen occupation.

The fact that students have time to practice the important manipulative skills of their specialty until they become proficient is vital. Without a good laboratory for practice, the accomplishments of the local agriculture program would be seriously compromised. This practice must be extensive enough to develop the competence and quality of work required in the industry by those who seek entry-level positions. Therefore, it is essential that the products of students’ laboratory work evidence standards of work quality, as identified by the advisory committee when planning the course of study.

Planning for Laboratory Instruction

Planning for laboratory instruction is different from planning for classroom learning. The basic focus of planning for laboratory instruction is to identify the objectives to be accomplished in the laboratory, to identify the work to be done (i.e., the development of the desired skills and abilities), to be sure that all students have an opportunity to develop the desired skills, and to guarantee that all students receive the opportunity to show you they have learned. Thus, the function of the teacher becomes planning how to manage students’ practice rather than planning the presentation of basic information.

Planning laboratory instruction involves making decisions. Teachers need to decide which skills and procedures must be practiced and when. They need to decide what work is to be completed in the laboratory, which will serve as the carrier or facilitator through which the desired skills are developed. Once the appropriate work has been identified, teachers need to decide how to be sure that all students have work and that all students have the opportunity to develop the important skills. Invariably, teachers discover that all students cannot practice the same skills at the same time, and thus teachers have to determine how to ensure that each student ultimately gets to develop each skill. Of course, it is essential that the teacher devise a way of teaching and of managing the lab that ensures that students have the necessary classroom instruction, demonstrations, and supplementary aids, such as skill sheets or plans, to be ready to practice the skill or develop the ability once they are given the chance to do so in the laboratory.

Identifying Laboratory Work. In most agriculture laboratories, skills cannot be developed unless materials and projects are available to facilitate such skill development. For example, if I am to learn to be a florist, then I need plants, flowers, containers, foliage, florist supplies, and other materials. The quantity of such supplies available determines the potential learning experience. It is the job of the teacher to provide for these needs. Certainly, for basic skill development the school needs to provide consumable supplies. A laboratory fee will probably need to be assessed. Teachers also need to be resourceful and to be promoters. Industry sometimes donates materials, the Defense Department often sells surplus items inexpensively, and sometimes the FFA alumni affiliate can be helpful. If products that are produced or built in the process of developing skills can be sold, money can be generated to replace consumed supplies.

Unless there is a market for such products, the cost of providing meaningful laboratory experiences becomes prohibitive. The same thing is true in production agriculture. If one is to learn to weld, there must be welders, the ancillary equipment, electrodes, metal, and other supplies available for student use. In the case of learning basic woodworking skills, one must have wood, woodworking equipment, and the necessary hardware. In order for the learning of the woodworking skills to be most meaningful, some sort of useful, relevant project needs to be constructed. Meaningful projects produce items with utility in the real world, such as a gate or trailer, as opposed to an exercise that teaches the skills but has no practical use. If there is no market for the project, the cost of providing the learning experience soars.

Laboratory learning can only be meaningful if the students have received proper instruction preceding their work in lab. The very idea of application via laboratory work implies that one is applying previous learning. Thus, teachers of agriculture must have taught the basic processes and skills in class and be sure students have the basic cognitive and affective understanding that undergirds the development of the psychomotor skill that is to be learned in the lab. For example, prior to students grinding valves in a mechanics laboratory, they must study

• The concept of internal combustion
• The functions of valves
• Specifications
• Parts
• Equipment to be used
• Terminology
• Conditions under which grinding valves is warranted
• How to grind valves

Of course, there must have also been a good demonstration, and the students may well have a skill sheet (see Chapter 7) to follow in attempting the operation in a lab. All of this instruction was preparatory to the students’ laboratory assignment to grind valves. Without such thorough prior instruction, the laboratory becomes a meaningless comedy of errors.

Grouping Learning Activities

Generally, there is not sufficient work, materials, or equipment for all students in the laboratory to be doing the same thing at the same time. For example, if students need to practice transplanting shrubs, seldom are there enough shovels, pruners, and other equipment to accommodate everyone in the class at the same time. In the case of an animal care program, a school generally does not have enough aquaria so that each student or even pair of students can simultaneously master the process of setting up an aquarium. Thus, teachers have to design what are called learning centers in order to have all of the students productively involved.

A learning center is an area (physically and in terms of subject matter) within the laboratory where similar (like) work is performed. Study Table 9-2 to get an idea of the probable learning centers in the laboratories of some of the specialty areas of agricultural education.

Table 9-2: Example laboratory learning centers for agricultural instruction

The specific learning centers in a laboratory during a given part of the school year are determined by the teacher’s course of study. Although the ideal of presenting the basics in the classroom, followed immediately by practice, is never perfectly attained, there must be a reasonable degree of connection between the development of understandings and the development of skills.

The actual learning centers selected may also be related to the work that is available for sale. For example, if there is no market for various flower arrangements or there are no dogs to be groomed, then the prospective learning center for these labs may never be a reality, at least beyond cursory practice, because of the prohibitive cost of providing such activities simply for practice with no way to recoup costs via marketing.

Once learning centers have been identified or chosen, the teacher must plan the specific learning activities to be completed in each of the learning centers. This should not be construed to mean that every group of students who works in a learning center completes the same activities. For example, the group that works in the flower shop one week might make three planters, but the group the next week may not make any. It all depends on the work that needs to be done during the time students are in the learning center. However, if the teacher is rotating students through a learning center to learn striking an arc and laying a bead in welding (initial skill development), then all students who go through that center will complete the same activities because this is a basic skill development-learning center. This planning is fairly well dictated by the work to be done and the prior instruction that students have had. Before students can engage in meaningful learning, they must have a precise idea of what they are to do, what tools and supplies they need in order to do it, and what procedures they must follow. Once teachers develop assignment sheets (see Chapter 7) for the basic learning center assignments, this part of planning can be used and reused. Table 9-3 illustrates the point that has been presented.

Table 9-3: Sample activities for a learning center in horticulture

Rotating Students through Learning Centers

If all students cannot do the same tasks at the same time, and must therefore divide into work groups to work at separate learning centers during lab, then the teacher must have a viable system to make sure that, over a period of time, all students get all of the essential experiences. This plan is called a rotation system. It ensures that each work group of students has a chance to work through all the learning centers over a period of time. Depending on the nature of the program, this rotation could be completed once during the school year or it could be completed every week or two.

For example, in horticulture a group of students might work in the greenhouse for one day, work in the flower shop the next, care for a school golf green the third day, prune trees the fourth day, and maintain horticulture equipment the final day of the week. However, in an agricultural industrial mechanics program a group of students may work on engine overhaul for an entire grading period. The length of time in a center, the number of centers, and the frequency of rotation from one center to another depends on the nature of the work being done and the scope of the work. It takes longer to assemble an aquaculture system than it does to make a corsage and therein lies the determiner of rotation frequency.

Rotation is not the easiest way to manage laboratory learning. Certainly, the easiest way to manage a laboratory is to have every student practicing the same skill. Rotation is not the preferred way to manage a laboratory based on educational soundness either. Rather it is a necessity. However, rotation is far better than planning enough lab work for each individual student for one day, and then starting to plan from scratch all over again the next day. The primary strength of rotation is that it brings an acceptable degree of systematization, clarity, and structure. It also provides for accountability in that it allows every student to work in every area.

A rotation schedule is planned by grouping work into a number of areas that can accommodate the number of students in the class in mathematically divisible units. For example, if one has twenty-four students, then four learning centers that accommodate six students each might be used; or six centers of four each; or two centers for six students each and four centers for three students each. Another important consideration is that the learning centers require about the same amount of time or divisible portions thereof. For example, if there are four centers of six students each, then all four centers need to require the same amount of time (one week, one month, or whatever is needed). In the case of using two groups of six each and four groups of three each, the groups of three would have to have twice the number of stations as the groups of six, that is, groups of six spend one month (or other unit of time) in a center while the groups of three work in two stations of two weeks each. See the sample charts in Figures 9-1 and 9-2, which illustrate the previous discussion. Figures 9-3 and 9-4 show examples of rotation schedules in selected areas of agricultural instruction.

Figure 9-1: Rotation schedule for four learning centers. Four groups of six; each group spends an equal amount of time in all four learning centers.

Figure 9-2: Rotation schedule for six learning centers. Two groups of six and four groups of three, with varying times depending on the learning center in question.

Figure 9-3: Sample one-week rotation schedule for horticulture.

Figure 9-4: Senior rotation schedule for laboratory work.

Developing Students’ Leadership Abilities through Involvement in Laboratory Instruction

The agricultural laboratory should approximate the real-world setting to the extent possible. In most businesses (farms and off-farm businesses) the work for the day is identified and the workers are assigned to specific duties. There are general policies regarding getting started, breaks, and how the workplace is to be left at the end of the workday. These same basic notions ought to be built into the agricultural laboratory. Not only will such a scheme create a worklike environment but it will also make the laboratory run smoother and, perhaps most important of all, it will provide an excellent realistic opportunity to help students develop their leadership abilities in a work-related setting.

In order to implement the preceding suggestions, teachers can use students in the following positions of responsibility: laboratory supervisor, leader of a learning center, safety engineer, equipment manager, and demonstration assistant.

The laboratory supervisor’s responsibilities include the following:

1. Be sure everyone has the tools, equipment, and materials needed.
2. Be sure everyone starts on time.
3. Record attendance and complete progress charts as students progress through their assigned skills and jobs.
4. Provide assistance for students needing help. This may be personal assistance that the supervisor gives, or it may consist of getting other students or the teacher to provide the needed assistance.
5. Signal time for clean up.
6. Be sure all students adequately complete their clean-up responsibilities.
7. Inform the teacher when the lab is in order and the students are ready to be dismissed.

As students have an opportunity to accept such responsibilities under the teacher’s direction they develop confidence in themselves. They also learn how to best get others to perform their duties for the good of the total organization (in this case, the class).

The position of responsibility needs to be rotated among the students. There will be some students who do not have the ability to handle this level of responsibility, in which case the teacher may choose to more closely supervise these students. Some teachers let the laboratory act as a club and democratically select this and other positions of responsibility. In such instances teachers work with the students to help them realize that they need to rotate most of the responsibilities among everyone in the class during the year. The position of leader of a learning center requires that the following duties be completed.

1. Know the specific objectives to be accomplished in the learning center each laboratory session.
2. Be familiar with the skills and procedures to be followed in order to act as an instructional leader. This student may have been given basic demonstrations and practice prior to lab in order to be an effective assistant for the other students in the learning center.
3. Know the location of all tools, equipment, and supplies that are needed to complete the activities assigned for the learning center.
4. Get students in the learning center organized to complete the assigned activities.

The equipment manager keeps an accurate list of what tools are being used and who is using them. He or she checks in tools, checks out tools, and makes sure the tools are clean and put away in their proper places.

The safety engineer is a student who is assigned to guarantee that approved safety practices are used in all laboratory work. To facilitate completing this kind of assignment, the safety engineer needs to be provided with a safety checklist that can be used to guide inspections of safety conditions in the laboratory. Such a checklist includes, but is not limited to, items such as: safety glasses worn by all students in the laboratory; students wearing safe clothing; and when chemicals are used, approved practices (taught in class) used.

Demonstration assistants are students who have special skills. They may have developed these skills through previous employment, or they may have performed exceptionally well when they were in a given learning center. At any rate, these students can help the teacher in giving basic demonstrations and providing assistance to students who are having particular difficulty in an area.

As students have an opportunity to serve in these various roles they develop additional skills in communicating, organizing, and providing direction. They also receive recognition and praise for their work and this provides incentive to continue to strive for excellence in their laboratory endeavors. The teacher needs to be sure that all students who can cope with the particular responsibility have their opportunity to develop in this way.

The teacher also needs to be sure that students are assigned increasing levels of responsibility in the laboratory while still developing their technical skills, so that they are always challenged and so that they continue to grow.

PROVIDING FOR SAFETY INSTRUCTION

An essential element of good laboratory management is providing for safety instruction. Every agricultural laboratory has many dangerous areas and situations. It is crucial that students learn to work in their environment safely not only for their immediate welfare but also so that they develop the essential safety habits needed for their future employment in the industry. From the standpoint of teachers, there are at least three compelling reasons for making sure that their students learn to work safely in the laboratory. First, teachers care about the individual students and do not want anyone to become injured. Second, teachers want to get students totally prepared for a successful future. The third reason teachers must be sure students receive superb safety instruction is to protect their own welfare. The legal climate is such that teachers who do not provide satisfactory safety instruction and supervision may be found liable for failure to do so. Thus every teacher must be sure he or she is adequately covered by reliable professional liability insurance.

The first thing to remember about safety instruction is that safety is largely a question of attitude. Thus, teachers must use instructional practices that impact not only the psychomotor and cognitive domains but also that impact favorably on the affective domain.

The cornerstone for safety instruction is thorough classroom instruction. Students must be taught the specific safety practices that will be expected and required in the laboratory in question. Students must also be taught specific safety practices that pertain to each area of the lab and to specific pieces of equipment and tools.

Structured classroom instruction with complete note taking is essential. Teachers should use a variety of techniques that appeal to all five senses when teaching safety principles and practices. Another effective technique is to bring in people from agribusiness and industry who can relate vivid experiences they have had or seen, and to offer industry specifications on how safety is handled in real-life settings.

Teachers also need to demonstrate and role-model the specifics of safe psychomotor operations. Finally, students must show proficiency on a general safety test, as well as on a specific test for each category of tools and equipment, chemicals and dangerous agents, and specific learning centers. These tests then must be kept on file as evidence that formal instruction has taken place and that each student has demonstrated mastery. There are a number of good commercial sources of safety units, tests, and audiovisual aids. Throughout the duration of the course, students must be reminded of safety. As new problems are discussed, teachers can reiterate previous cautions.

Once in the laboratory there needs to be an effective safety-conscious environment. Teachers must use state and national recommendations for color-coding, display safety posters and exhibits (many good materials are available through each state’s safety agencies), and guarantee that all guards and other safety devices on equipment meet state standards. The laboratory must always be neatly arranged, clean, and well lit.

Each day and throughout each laboratory period students need to be reminded of safety. This can be done by the teacher, by the laboratory supervisor, and by the safety engineer if one is used. Another important practice is for teachers to set the example by wearing safe clothing and safety glasses, and following the same rules that they have set forth for their students.

The final element of a good safety program is for the teacher and assigned students to conduct safety inspections daily. As tools and equipment are found to be in anything other than top operating condition, appropriate restorative maintenance must be provided. All in all, the goal of a good program of safety instruction is for students to develop a mind set for safety and practice daily habits of working safely.

SUPERVISING LABORATORY INSTRUCTION

There are a number of tasks that teachers must perform if they are to have an effective laboratory that promotes the goals and objectives of their agricultural instruction program. Teachers have to effectively begin the laboratory period (preferably in the classroom), manage students as they work in the laboratory, evaluate students’ laboratory performance, manage tools and equipment use, supervise computer use, and end the laboratory in a desirable way.

Beginning the Laboratory Period

If teachers begin laboratories in a businesslike manner, then this mood is apt to prevail for the rest of the laboratory period. However, if teachers begin laboratories in a disorganized and confused manner, then the entire laboratory period is apt to be tainted by that approach and attitude throughout the session.

The first thing to be accomplished in getting the laboratory started is to achieve the proper mental set. The mental set desired is that “we’re here to work, we’ll accomplish much, and we’ll enjoy doing it.” This can be achieved by beginning the laboratory promptly and in a systematic and businesslike fashion, preferably in the classroom where students can sit in the academic environment and check notebooks for project timeliness and daily objectives before reporting to the desired learning centers of the laboratory.

Students need to report for lab promptly and be dressed and ready for work within a set number of minutes after being dismissed from the classroom. The roll should then be checked at each learning center. This can be done by the teacher or by the laboratory supervisor for that day.

Assignments for the day then need to be given. They may be given on paper, on the chalkboard, or orally. Each learning center group must know its assignment. The teacher needs to be sure that the students know the goals or objectives for the lab activities and that they clearly see the relationship between their lab work and their previous classroom learning. The types of forms as shown in Figures 9-5 and 9-6 could be used to distribute assignments to each learning center.

Figure 9-5: Task assignment sheet

Figure 9-6: Form for distributing assignments

If there is a major new skill or a problem from class or from yesterday’s laboratory for which a demonstration is needed in order for the class or groups within the class to be able to complete their assignments for the day, then such a demonstration needs to be given. In fact, a good daily demonstration by the teacher (or a selected student) is a good way to help students continuously accumulate new abilities. It also enriches the period of laboratory instruction. There should be some planned group instruction as a part of the laboratory period almost every day.

Each day students need to be reminded of general safety concerns because of the nature of a given day’s assignments. This can be done by the teacher or a student who is prepared for it, such as the safety engineer for that day.

Prior to allowing students to begin work, the teacher or an appointed student, such as the laboratory supervisor for that day, needs to double-check to be sure that every student knows what to do and how to get started. Only then should students be allowed to start working.

If this procedure or a similar one is not followed, then some students begin work, others do not, there is more loafing, there is confusion as to who is supposed to do what, and the general atmosphere of the laboratory is very unsatisfactory and not conducive to learning.

Supervising Students as They Work in the Laboratory

Once students have been properly organized for the day’s laboratory and have begun work, then the real job of the teacher begins, that is, supervising students as they work. Teachers must remember that this is a laboratory for learning, not simply for consuming time. It is the teacher’s responsibility to manage and direct this important learning experience to be sure that each student’s skills and work ethic develop as much as is possible. This means there must be effective teaching taking place.

One of the best ways of helping students to learn during a laboratory is to use “coaching.” In this activity the teacher observes a student or group of students having problems, and takes time to discuss with the students the skill or operation with which they are having difficulty. Through one-on-one or small-group interaction the teacher offers help by making suggestions, raising questions, performing a troublesome operation for the students, repeating a demonstration, or giving a private demonstration. In essence, the teacher is coaching the students as to how they can improve on their performance. This act of coaching occurs at a very personal level, at the point when the instruction is the most needed and relevant, and in order to help the students achieve success. Thus it is a very potent strategy to use in managing and directing laboratory learning.

On occasion, as teachers are involved with such coaching they find a student who is having an unusual or rare problem that one seldom encounters. However, this is a very important problem and one with which every beginning worker in the industry should be familiar. When such conditions exist, the teacher seizes on what is called the “teachable moment” (that is, a moment when readiness for instruction (see Chapter 2) is high and apt not to be replicable; it is a naturally occurring point in time when instruction has its finest hour). The teacher may stop all laboratory work and have every student report to the learning center in question and there elaborate on the situation, explaining background information, theory, and practice, and teaching every student how to solve this unique problem. Such instruction is invariably exciting and memorable to students.

However, teachers cannot be everywhere in the laboratory at once. Thus teachers need to make effective use of group or learning center leaders if laboratory instruction is to be supervised and guided as well as it must. In order to make the best possible use of students as group leaders, the teacher needs to prepare the leaders for their responsibilities. Sometimes such leaders already have the special skills needed to give special demonstrations or to provide assistance in a specific learning center. These skills may have been developed through the students’ supervised agricultural experience programs or because of special interests of the students. However, even if the students do not have predeveloped special skills, the teacher can work with them in advance of when they are to serve as learning center leaders to develop the skills necessary to provide specific help to the rest of the students in the learning center.

Serving as learning center leaders does not always demand that these students possess special manipulative skill. It does mean that such leaders be cognizant of what activities must be performed in their learning center and where the necessary equipment for each day’s work is located. This knowledge must be provided prior to laboratory. Teachers can coordinate this pretraining during students’ studyhall time, after school, or prior to the start of school. Without this orientation as to what must be done in each lab and a general understanding of how it is to be done, student leaders will not be very effective at reducing the teacher’s load and contributing to good laboratory management.

The central problem in providing for a well-managed laboratory is that each student is working individually or in a small group. Whenever teachers divide the number of minutes in the laboratory period by the number of students, they find there is very little time available to provide specific assistance to each student. For example, with a class of twenty-five students in a sixty minute lab there is no more than two minutes available per student after beginning and closing time is considered. Even if it is a three-hour lab, there is not much more than six minutes per student, and this estimate does not allow for the time it takes a teacher to walk from one learning center to another. Therefore, the teacher must provide as much in the way of supplementary instructional assistance as possible. One excellent way of providing such assistance is by using information sheets, job sheets, or skill sheets, which were discussed in Chapter 7.

Much of the energy of the teacher who wants to do a good job of supervising laboratory learning must be directed toward checking the progress of students. Teachers must be on the move observing the progress of students, ensuring safety, raising questions, offering guidance, showing how, giving praise, answering questions, locating tools and supplies, and being sure that the laboratory environment is conducive to the growth of each student. This is a relentless task, and only determination and a high level of energy get a teacher through each day’s laboratory. However, other alternatives to this kind of supervision spell disaster or at least disappointment for all who are concerned.

Evaluating Student Performance

Assessing Work Habits. There are three areas of evaluation of students’ performance in the laboratory that are discussed in this text (see Chapter 14 for evaluation of learners). The first area is that of assessing students’ work habits. Teachers need to use the laboratory to help students learn to be prompt, attend to their assigned work, and develop efficient work habits and a positive attitude toward working. One way of facilitating this is by using a checklist, such as the one shown in Figure 9-7, daily or weekly.

Figure 9-7: Work habits assessment sheet

Teachers can also have the laboratory supervisor or a learning center leader complete such assessments. The checklist needs to be shared and discussed with each student. Suggestions for needed improvement should also be offered. The results of this phase of the students’ evaluation could possibly count as 10 percent or more of their laboratory grades.

Assessing Process Skills. Another area of laboratory evaluation is that of evaluating how well students follow prescribed processes or procedures. For many laboratory assignments specific procedures are prescribed. See the sample job sheet in Figure 9-8. Any of these aids that prescribe procedures or steps can be used as the checklist to follow in determining whether or not students followed directions. Of course, point values need to be assigned to the stages based on their importance. This lends some degree of objectivity to the assessment.

Product Assessment. Product assessment is perhaps the most important phase of the assessment of laboratory learning. Well-designed lab activities are created to develop specific abilities. Student assessment must be based on the objectives of the assignment. In order to do a fair job of evaluation of products, a score sheet such as the one shown in Figure 9-9 should be developed based on the objectives of the laboratory activity. This score sheet can serve to provide the criteria to be used in the assessment. Before the students start the lab assignment they should be provided with a copy of such a score sheet so that they can concentrate on the specifications included therein.

To aid in the learning process and the evaluation of learning, teachers should display product examples to which students can compare their products. There are two types of product examples that are necessary. One shows diagnostic examples; the other shows examples representative of various marks (A, B, C, D, and F). For example, in the case of a flat lap weld, a teacher could display examples of welds that were and were not uniform in width and thickness or other characteristics. Likewise, the teacher could display examples of “A” welds, “B” welds, and so on along with diagnostic score sheets. The same is true for corsages. Teachers will want to display corsages which do and do not follow basic design techniques, and then also display “A” corsages, “B” corsages, or “unacceptable” corsages along with the sheet used to assess those grade categories.

Once the basis for evaluation of lab work is established and the evaluation is completed, there are two types of records that need to be kept. One is the recorded grade for future reporting. The other is a progress report so the teacher knows who has yet to experience a given task. The progress chart shown in Figure 9-10 can easily be used for this latter record.

Agricultural education

Student progress chart

School:

School year:

Program area:

Course or lessons taught:

Teacher:

 

Source: The Ohio Curriculum Materials Service. Used with permission of The Ohio State University and released under CC BY NC SA 4.0.

Managing Tools and Equipment

As if teachers did not already have enough to do in trying to manage laboratories effectively, they also must be sure to manage all tools and equipment, including computers. Without a viable management system for maintaining and upgrading tools and equipment, there will not be a laboratory to manage. Tools, equipment, hardware, and software are very expensive, and no administrator should settle for a teacher who does not do a good job of keeping them in good condition or updated. Also, if tools, equipment, and computers are in disrepair, broken, or missing, the students will be unable to stay productively involved during laboratory, the consequences of which can be readily predicted.

If students do not learn to properly use and care for tools, equipment, hardware, or software as a part of their instruction, then they will encounter serious problems when they enter the workforce. In essence, students need to develop acceptable equipment use habits. The dollars involved in industry demand such an attitude.

It is the preference of the authors to store or locate tools of all kinds on a display board at the learning center where they will be used. In the case of CDs and DVDs appropriate filing systems should be located at the learning center. Larger tools and pieces of portable equipment should be kept in a logical storage area and checked in and checked out using a system that everyone understands. Wherever tools are kept, they should be kept clean and ready for the function for which they were intended.

Every student who uses a tool or piece of equipment should return it cleaned and ready to use to the place where he or she found it. At the close of every laboratory period, the supervisor and teacher must be certain that everything is clean, in its place, and, in the case of computers, certain that no personal files are left on hard drives. Otherwise problems mount.

Teachers must also provide students with instruction on refitting tools, upgrading software packages, and fine-tuning equipment. Students need to learn to sharpen hoes, shovels, chisels, chain saw chains, and other tools. They must learn to replace glass or plastic on the green house, to readjust gate hinges in the school barns, to sharpen clippers used for dog grooming, and readhere PVC pipes on aquaculture tanks. This is an important part of preparation for work and is vital to the successful management of tools and equipment.

Ending the Laboratory Period

Just as the laboratory period needs to be started in a businesslike manner, it is also imperative that it be ended in such a manner. The following procedures are suggested:

1. Signal a time to stop. This may be done by blowing a whistle, ringing a bell, or other procedures that can become habitual for students. On giving the stop work signal, everyone must immediately cease work; otherwise, the system does not work. This expectation has to be clearly defined early in the school year, reinforced, and practiced.
2. Each student puts away his or her work, tools, and equipment. Students need to clear the laboratory so it can be cleaned daily. Projects cannot be left strewn about. Students cannot be allowed to leave tools out, reasoning that they’ll be needed again tomorrow or by students in another laboratory. Such practice leads to a situation in which no one can find anything. If a student is acting as the equipment manager, all items used in the laboratory were checked out by that person and must be checked back in by that person.
3. Everyone joins in to clean the entire laboratory. The only way this works is if everyone has a specific duty during clean-up. Teachers should demonstrate how they want each clean-up job performed; otherwise, perfection will not be attained. These duties need to be rotated because some are much less pleasant than others. Many teachers in agriculture mechanics laboratories use a clean-up wheel such as the one shown in Figure 9-11. A similar wheel can be created for all types of laboratories. All students’ names in the class are included in the center circle. Then one clean-up duty for each name is listed on the outer circle. The wheel rotates clockwise one name each class period.
   Note: In many agricultural laboratories, clean-up may be assigned by learning center rather than in general. For example, in a horticulture laboratory, students in the retail shop may have a list of duties to attend to, whereas those who are working in the greenhouse have an entirely different set of responsibilities.
   

   

4. Once all clean-up duties have been completed, students may clean themselves up and dress for the rest of their school day. If students are allowed to attend to personal grooming before the teacher (or supervisor) checks their clean-up duties and clears them to prepare themselves to leave the laboratory, they loiter and the clean-up never gets done.
5. Once students are groomed and ready to leave the laboratory they must wait until the teacher is satisfied, primarily via the laboratory supervisor, that everything is in order. The teacher then dismisses the class. The students do not leave until the teacher has dismissed them; otherwise, laboratory clean-up is never well done.

If the laboratory is not cleaned after every class period, no system will work. A clean laboratory is an efficient and productive laboratory and must be a priority item with teachers and students alike.

DEVELOPING A SALES POLICY

An important phase of the agricultural laboratory is the completion of work for customers. In agricultural mechanics this might consist of repairing someone’s tractor. The horticulture class may sell bedding plants to the public, prepare floral arrangements for a wedding for someone in the community, or landscape a residential site. Students studying food processing may market fresh meat to the public, and students in small animal care may sell pets and pet products, and provide pet services.

In all of these instances relationships with people outside the class must be established and maintained. This is an essential component of training for employment outside of the school setting. The work generated by providing such services and products is essential to the success of the laboratory phase of the instruction program. Without the work created for the sale of products and services, the laboratory would not provide a vibrant learning experience. Instead, it would consist of a series of concocted exercises. Students would not be immersed in reality, and the school could not afford enough materials to allow the students to develop the level of skill needed in order to enter and progress in entry-level jobs after graduation.

The problem is that whenever the school agrees to produce or to serve for a fee, then potential work has been diverted from the private enterprise of the community. If the businesses in the community have not been involved in recommending the need for students to have these experiences and in helping establish an agreeable sales policy, problems can develop. Therefore, teachers must involve retail-level representatives in the agricultural industry in question in establishing such policies. For example, the owner of the local pet store must be asked to be a key consultant in writing the companion pet curriculum so skills can be developed that prepare students to be successful employees of that store. This relationship is important for the agricultural instruction program.

The cornerstone of any successful sales policy rests on the idea that the experience of selling to the public is a vital component of preparing people for entry-level jobs in the industry. Generally, the bulk of the sales of products is made to students, teachers, and workers in the school. In the case of floral work for weddings or funerals, an agreement to do no more than a certain number of each type of wedding or funeral may be needed. Because the horticulture industry encounters more problems of retailers fearing their market being diluted, teachers of horticulture need to help their industry partners realize that by introducing flowers to more people in the community the potential market is increased in future seasons.

It needs to be understood that products and services provided in the agricultural instruction program need to be sold for somewhat less than would be the case in industry. This is because students who are developing proficiency make mistakes and produce work that may be somewhat inferior to commercial grade. By the same token, however, the prices charged by the school should not be so low as to dramatically draw consumers out of the public market place.

In the case of services rendered, such as repairing a tractor, landscaping a home, stocking a pond, or producing a company newsletter, the school needs to charge for actual costs plus a standard percentage that covers some overhead and breakage and maintenance of the equipment used. These fees can be set annually after consulting with the advisory committee of the program.

Unless such a procedure is followed, too many “picky” problems are encountered throughout the year, in which case prevention of such problems is possible and essential.

Given that satisfactory policies have been formulated, the teacher must use sales as an important part of teaching students for their future jobs. Inventories must be kept, sales records and procedures need to be similar to those of industry, pricing procedures need to be taught, and so on. The laboratory becomes a place to learn retailing as it applies to the agricultural specialty in question. This entrepreneurial, or business management, phase of the instruction needs to be experienced and understood by all students as much as the psychomotor skills.

SUMMARY

Good laboratory management is important for any teacher. Nothing less is acceptable. The laboratory must truly be a laboratory for learning, including more than learning skills.

Students must practice what they have learned in the classroom until they are truly skilled workers. Yet laboratory is more than applying what has been learned in the classroom. It is a place where additional instruction is given, competence is developed under the watchful eye of a masterful teacher, and important work attitudes and safety are developed.

Students learn to lead and to follow as a consequence of their laboratory experiences. They must be productive but safe. They must learn to use tools and equipment properly and to care for them as well. Finally, they must learn to leave the laboratory ready for the next users and to follow an established routine. In laboratories that are operated properly learning will take place, and students will become prepared to enter jobs and colleges after graduation.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. Visit a local agriculture program and analyze how the laboratory instruction is conducted. Identify the strengths of the operation. Then develop an improved plan for the operation of the laboratory based on what you have learned in this chapter.
2. List the basic steps one needs to follow in planning laboratory instruction.
3. Suppose you have a group of twenty students in your agriculture program (you select the length of time in lab each day and the tasks to be completed). Plan a rotation schedule for one week, month, or semester (you may select the period of time).
4. Outline the basic strategies you can use as a part of your laboratory management systems to help develop students’ leadership abilities.
5. Describe the sequence of events you would follow in operating each laboratory session, beginning with the starting bell for the period and ending with the final bell of the laboratory period.

Figure Descriptions

Figure 9.10: Blank table with names in the leftmost column. Across the top, there is a spot to write in performance capabilities of the students developed as a result of classroom, laboratory, and occupational experiences. Remarks are in the rightmost column. Instructions: Indicate the date the performance capability was achieved in the block opposite the student’s name and below the performance capability.

Figure 9.11: Circular chart with names attached to assignments. Jeff: trash cans. Leslie: paint area. Diane: extension cords. John: windows, exhaust fan, lights. Bill: laboratory supervisor. Patty: sweeper. Tom: sweeper. Roger: dustpan. Joe: bench and table tops. Jack: safety engineer. Mary: table saw and drill press. Don: arc welding area. Harold: oxygen-acetylene area. Angie: storeroom. Ken: portable power tools. Bob: hand tools.