Introduction
The Art and Science of Teaching Agriculture: Four Keys to Dynamic Learning is a collection of thoughts, best practices, strategies, and techniques assembled from among the best teaching professors in agricultural communication, education, and leadership in America. The editors have assembled the authors’ mastery work as a way for all of us to assist our aspiring teachers in grasping the fundamentals of solid, basic, time-tested formal and nonformal teaching. Four Keys to Dynamic Learning simply means that we believe there are four keys to teaching that must be present in the learning environment for learners to achieve at their highest levels: Laying the Foundation, Connecting with Students, Designing Instruction, and Applying Learning. Embedded within these dimensions are the unique aspects of both the art and the science of teaching that are necessary for engaging learners in the teaching and learning process.
The Art and Science of Teaching Agriculture: Four Keys to Dynamic Learning is brought to life in this book by the selfless contributions of these authors, who, as researchers, have studied the teaching and learning process, have implemented what they have learned, have modified their planning, delivery, and assessment, and who are continuing their quest for mastery in their formal and nonformal learning environments.
Historically, across the country, preservice teacher education in the agricultural sciences has shared common foundational principles. Traditionally, these shared principles have been, in part, perpetuated through a common textbook used in many preservice teacher education methods courses in higher education. Therefore, an objective of The Art and Science of Teaching Agriculture: Four Keys to Dynamic Learning is to provide a multiperspective resource for educators to use in preparing those who seek to teach others. The goal is to positively influence the caliber of methods of instruction globally.
The text is organized around Four Keys that need to be considered when preparing educators to plan, deliver, and assess learning: Laying the Foundation, Connecting with Students, Designing Instruction, and Applying Learning.
Role of the Editors
We, the editors, combined our collective more than 100 years in education to read drafts, offer insights, and challenge authors to think beyond traditional classrooms and into both formal and nonformal learning environments. Therefore, it was important to us that the book’s use in education not be limited to traditional preservice classroom teacher preparation. One approach to accomplishing this was choosing verbiage such as learning environments, educators, and learners to capture our spirit and intent in speaking to both formal and nonformal education. We also read authors’ examples through a lens of reaching our formal and nonformal audiences so that all educators using the book would find examples for use in workshops, seminars, field experiences, laboratories and other environments in which learners learn.
Throughout the process we stayed connected to each other as the chapters evolved. We read the document holistically to assure one voice for the book, while maintaining the unique, individual voices that constitute the heart of The Art and Science of Teaching Agriculture: Four Keys to Dynamic Learning. We also read through the drafts looking for three elements woven through the fabric of the chapters: diversity and inclusion, assessment, and effective teaching.
Finally, to aid in our quest for a broad use of the book across formal and nonformal education, students in a graduate teacher education program created sample personas of people they believed would be the audience for the book. The personas served as a resource to assist the authors in focusing their writing and messaging. Examples included but were not limited to the following personas.
Personas
| A first-year faculty member with a 100 percent teaching appointment and no previous teaching experience beyond serving as a teaching assistant in graduate school | |
|---|---|
| Basic demographics | Hispanic male who is thirty-two years old. |
| Where are they teaching? | A small liberal arts college in West Virginia. |
| Who are they teaching? | Undergraduate students of impoverished backgrounds. |
| Their general teaching practice | A combination of lectures and laboratory experiences. He incorporates different pedagogical techniques other than standard practices that include more activities, higher student engagement, but lacks access to technology beyond PowerPoint. |
| What questions would they like to have answered? | • How does he get on the same page as his students from diverse backgrounds? • How could he tailor his teaching approach from large to small classes? • How does he write assessments? • How does he design a complete course from scratch? |
| A first-year international master’s student | |
|---|---|
| Basic demographics | A female who speaks English as a second language, mostly fluent in English, but worried about connecting with students. She is excited to acquire teaching experience. |
| What are they teaching? | A basic, required course in their department at a land-grant university. Teaching a large class of more than 100 students. Some students are engaged, while some just have to be there. It is possibly the first time the students are exposed to this material. In the past, the class has been taught using lectures. The current teacher is only thought of as average by the students. |
| Their general teaching practice | They want to be more engaged but are concerned about power balance in class. The current teacher has been teaching the same way for a long time. They are teaching using mostly lectures. |
| What questions would they like to have answered? | • How does she ensure that her language is not a barrier or an issue with the students? • Are there stylistic or cultural differences between her experiences and those of her students in the United States? • Is there anything she should know about various strategies? • How does she have students respect her as a teaching figure and not as a peer? |
| Mrs. Bean, who has no prior teaching experience | |
|---|---|
| Basic demographics | Female from an underrepresented population, is vertically challenged in stature, and a bit of an introvert. |
| What are they teaching? | A minor class with prerequisites. |
| Their general teaching practice | She tries to look confident and competent. She wants students to be engaged. She wants to have an interactive classroom. |
| What questions would they like to have answered? | • How does she act to be confident when teaching? • How can she motivate students with low self-motivation? • How should she incorporate different activities in the classroom? |
| Community College Instructor with a 100 percent teaching appointment | |
|---|---|
| Basic demographics | A transgender female, white, adult (twenty-eight to forty years old). |
| Who are they teaching? | Nontraditional students from diverse cultures and ethnic backgrounds, some international students, some students from a local high school. Some students have low socioeconomic status and some are working full-time jobs, including night shifts. There are students in the class with families. |
| What are they teaching? | Some of her courses are offered at night and on weekends. The day classes are offered for those students who work night shifts. |
| Their general teaching practice | She is energetic, uses PowerPoint, and is very structured. She also uses online course management software. |
| New faculty member who has recently completed their doctoral program | |
|---|---|
| Basic demographics | Female, early thirties, with minimum previous teaching experience. |
| What is the context in which they are teaching? | She both teaches and conducts research. She teaches undergraduate and graduate students. She has no budget for teaching activities and is creating a new course. There is resistance from faculty colleagues to implement new teaching techniques. |
| What questions would they like to have answered? | • How does she negotiate with peers and old faculty? • What should she do to get funding for teaching? • How does she implement class activities? • How does she find and use new and affordable and accessible teaching technologies? • How does she build an environment of trust in the classroom? |
Who Are the Authors?
We were purposeful and deliberate in our selection of the authors. We invited authors who were known across the country as being excellent in their ability to plan, deliver, and assess teaching and learning. We invited authors who were, at the time of invitation, nontenured, new assistant, or associate professors in universities across the country. We intentionally combined coauthor teams across disciplines, backgrounds, and areas of expertise. Finally, we sought authors who had achieved an earned recognition for the content we were asking them to espouse in their chapter.
Unique Framing of the Chapters
As context for users of this book, our guidelines to authors, in an overly simplified approach, was for them to capture on paper “the best class session you have ever taught on the topic you are capturing in your chapter.” Our ask, therefore, included:
- A practical scenario to which the intended audiences could relate, thereby aiding in setting the context for learning the content of the chapter.
- A clear objective for the outcome of learning the content, thereby providing clarity of expectation for the learner.
- A science- and theory-based grounding, thereby providing evidence of rigorous scrutiny of the content prior to adoption, but not with the intensity in writing of a journal publication. Instead, nonformal, relatable writing was sought.
- An application of the content, thereby offering learners opportunities for active engagement with the material.
- An assessment of the achievement of the objective, thereby giving learners and educators a reflective process for deciding the level of content attainment.
In addition, the editors asked the authors to use theory as a framework and to provide anecdotes from personal experiences. The authors were asked to close each chapter with reflective questions for the learner. These reflections are meant to be broader than the scope of the objectives to offer more holistic reflection over the content of the chapter. We also asked the authors to include a glossary as well as a list of commonly used resources for the audience to use in their teaching.
Finally, we asked the authors to weave every chapter through the tapestry of the following elements:
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Evaluation
- Effective Teaching
The Chapters
Part 1: Laying the Foundation
1. The Discipline of Agricultural Education
“The Discipline of Agricultural Education” provides a foundation for learning throughout the textbook by exploring what agricultural education is, why it exists, who it serves, and how it is delivered.
2. Psychology of Learning
“Psychology of Learning” digs into how learning occurs by introducing some essential learning theories and how teachers can apply these learning theories to help students who have unique learning styles and needs against the backdrop of societal norms in the United States. Theories tackle students’ identities. Diversity and inclusion are discussed, alongside theories of learning.
3. Principles of Teaching and Learning
“Principles of Teaching and Learning” examines evidence-based concepts related to how students bring in and process information and explores foundational truths about teaching that can help students grasp new information, think critically, and retain content.
Part 2: Connecting with Students
4. Learning as Problem Solving
“Learning as Problem Solving” lays out problem-based instructional strategies that can help create unique opportunities to connect our content back to issues and problems in our local communities as well as statewide, nationwide, and worldwide.
5. Inclusive Teaching
“Inclusive Teaching” is intended to help educators begin the process of purposefully planning courses, Future Farmers of America (FFA) opportunities, and Supervised Agricultural Experiences to be inclusive of all student cultures and identities that may be present in the local community.
6. Dynamics of Teaching
“Dynamics of Teaching” aligns the art and science of implementing change in behavior, environment, and personal factors to enhance teaching.
Part 3: Designing Instruction
7. Planning for Effective Instruction
“Planning for Effective Instruction” introduces the process of curriculum design including writing learning objectives, mapping curriculum, and designing lesson plans for impactful teaching.
8. Delivering Content with Technology
“Delivering Content with Technology” explores how to mediate content delivery, classroom management, and student assessment strategies through appropriate technology platforms.
9. Assessing Agricultural Education
“Assessing Agricultural Education” investigates how agricultural education can be equally valuable as high stakes testing scores based on rigorous evidence and data from the variety of student driven learning and projects that are synonymous with the content we teach.
Part 4: Applying Learning
10. Applied Leadership Development through FFA
“Applied Leadership Development through FFA” highlights the experiential learning opportunities inherent in America’s largest agricultural youth organization. We explore the structure of this intracurricular component of the complete agricultural education model, as well as the many contextualized learning experiences instructors can use in challenging diverse learners to combine technical knowledge and skill with interpersonal know-how to provide inclusive growth opportunities for all learners.
11. Supervised Agricultural Experiences
“Supervised Agricultural Experiences” explores the history, benefits, areas of concern, and development and implementation factors that impact student engagement in this individualized educational learning experience.
12. Effective Use of the Agricultural Laboratory Environments to Support Student Learning
“Effective Use of the Agricultural Laboratory Environment to Support Student Learning” introduces types of laboratory environments and provides guidance for planning for laboratory instruction.
Summary
The Art and Science of Teaching Agriculture: Four Keys to Dynamic Learning is more than a book; it is a collaboration of highly skilled and respected teaching professors sharing their thoughts, best practices, strategies, and techniques about a topic they love. The book offers educators a solid foundation for building confidence in planning, delivering, and assessing the depths of the variables inherent in a learning environment. The editors wish for readers the ability to teach dynamically by designing and managing learning environments using what we believe to be four keys to good teaching: Laying the Foundation, Connecting with Students, Designing Instruction, and Applying Learning.
Keep teaching well!
Susie, Rick, and Jack
