In today’s society, the majority of our population lacks knowledge about agriculture and its importance. Therefore, there is a demand for agricultural programs to increase a general knowledge of agriculture. This study aimed to develop, pilot test, and evaluate the Hybrid-Online Hatch-out Program. Due to limited resources with the current Hands-on Hatch-out program, this Hybrid-Online Hatch-out Program could reach a larger population of youth and aid in educating more youth about poultry (one of the largest sectors of agriculture). The RE-AIM framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) was utilized to guide the evaluation process. The program was pilot-tested in two elementary schools with 14 teachers and 172 students in Pre-K through first grade. Overall, teachers were satisfied with the program, indicated that it was feasible to implement, and planned to repeat the program in the future. Additionally, students’ pre- to post-program increase in poultry knowledge was statistically significant.

The significance of agriculture to future generations is unparalleled. The United Nations projects the global population to swell to 9.75 billion people by 2050, and to proliferate to 11.2 billion by 2100. The non-agricultural population has little to no understanding or comprehension of the complexities of sustaining a viable agricultural system. Agricultural literacy is an area often unseen and rarely discussed outside specific agricultural disciplines. Society does not view agriculture as being important, yet it is important that society be properly educated on issues in order to reach well-informed decisions and render prudent choices that impact the world around them. Illinois ranks fourth in the nation for agricultural productivity, yet the agricultural literacy of its elementary students is unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess the agricultural knowledge of selected Illinois classrooms of public elementary school students in kindergarten through fifth grades that employ Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) methods and materials. A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design, using a pretest and a posttest, was utilized to study. A Solomon Four-Group design analysis was used to determine if pretest sensitization, or test reactivity effect, existed in this study. The study found that AITC treatment and control group students possessed some agricultural knowledge regarding the five thematic areas of the Food and Fiber Systems Literacy (FSSL) Framework. The kindergarten through first grade post mean scores by treatment and theme indicated the treatment group answered 77.89 percent of the questions correctly and the control group answered 72.55 percent correctly. The treatment and control groups were most knowledgeable about Theme 5 (Food, Nutrition and Health) followed by Theme 4 (Business and Economics), with the treatment group being more knowledgeable about Theme 1 (Understanding Food and Fiber Systems), while the control group was more knowledgeable about Theme 3 (Science, Technology and Environment). The treatment and control groups were least knowledgeable about Theme 2 (History, Geography and Culture). The second through third grade post mean scores by treatment and theme indicated the treatment group answered 75.05 percent of the questions correctly and the control group answered 74.07 percent correctly. The treatment group was most knowledgeable about Theme 3 (Science, Technology and Environment) followed by Theme 1 (Understanding Food and Fiber Systems) and Theme 5 (Food, Nutrition and Health). The control group was most knowledgeable about Theme 1 (Understanding Food and Fiber Systems) followed by Theme 3 (Science, Technology and Environment) and Theme 4 (Business and Economics). The treatment and control groups were least knowledgeable about Theme 2 (History, Geography and Culture). The fourth through fifth grade post mean scores by treatment and theme indicated the treatment group answered 66.73 percent of the questions correctly and the control group answered 52.91 percent correctly. The treatment group was most knowledgeable about Theme 2 (History, Geography and Culture) followed by Theme 3 (Science, Technology and Environment) and Theme 5 (Food, Nutrition and Health). The control groups were most knowledgeable about Theme 3 (Science, Technology and Environment) followed by Theme 1 (Understanding Food and Fiber Systems) and Theme 4 (Business and Economics). The treatment was least knowledgeable about Theme 4 (Business and Economics) and Theme 5 (Food, Nutrition and Health). The control group was least knowledgeable about Theme 2 (History, Geography and Culture) followed by Theme 5 (Food, Nutrition and Health).

The annual Sigmon Farm Tour was started in 1992 as an agricultural education program where students could experience being on a farm with the goal of increasing the agricultural literacy levels of the participants. Every year the entire 4th grade student population of Rockcastle County spends the day touring the farm and participating in experiential mini lessons given by the cooperating farm service and health agencies. The program has continued for 20+ years without an evaluation as to whether it is achieving its objectives. This evaluation will also exhibit the programs strengths and weakness so it can continue to improve. This study utilized the pretest, posttest and delayed posttest to ascertain the agricultural literacy level of the student before the fieldtrip, after participating in the field trip and again 90 days later.

<p>This thesis examines the Elementary Educate Gain Grow (E.G.G.) program and its impact on student agricultural literacy and interest in relation to the program’s pilot classroom implementation. The overall shortage of graduates pursuing careers in the poultry industry was the motivation behind the program development. The gap between industry demand and the potential entering poultry workforce may be linked to low awareness and interest relating to poultry science. This is particularly true in the egg industry. As consumer and legislature demands continue to affect egg production practices and demand for eggs continues to grow, it is especially crucial for consumers to become more aware of industry practices. One way to increase awareness may be to include educational resources within the K-12 system that are designed to increase awareness and interest in the industry. By integrating poultry science into required academic standards, students are given a real-world context to apply STEM skills. This has the potential to improve the learning experience and stimulate student interest and awareness. Such resources have the potential to promote future student engagement in poultry science opportunities. Therefore, the Elementary E.G.G. program was developed as an integrated STEM and poultry science curriculum with five online modules, a supplemental interactive notebook, an embedded simulation game, and a final team project as a resource for upper elementary teachers and students. All content and materials were developed between fall 2018 and summer 2019 and were made available to 480 Indiana 4^th and 5^th graders (13 teachers, 19 classrooms) across 8 different school districts in the fall of 2019. The program was designed for a ten consecutive day STEM unit starting with online modules (days 1 to 5) and followed by a team project (days 6 to 10). There were three overall research questions to assess the impact of the Elementary E.G.G. program: 1) what was student agricultural literacy before, during, and after program implementation; 2) did the program have an effect on student situational interest; and 3) what was the teacher perceived value and effectiveness of the program as an education resource. </p> <p>Chapter One provides a literature review outlining past research that provided background for the development of the Elementary E.G.G. program. </p> <p> Chapter Two describes the experimental methods and results of the piloted Elementary E.G.G. program and how it impacted student agricultural literacy through evaluating three content assessments and student notebook responses. Additionally, we discuss teacher feedback, collected at the completion of the program. Quantitative data was collected to assess student poultry knowledge prior (pre-program), during (post-modules), and after implementation (post-program) using 14 multiple choices questions focused on module content. The questions were administered online using Qualtrics (Qualtrics, Provo, UT). Only student data that was completed correctly across all assessments and notebook responses from student’s in corresponding classrooms to the other assessments were used for analysis. Student notebook responses from 10 corresponding classrooms (52.63% response rate), were deemed usable for analysis since these classrooms had students who correctly completed all assessments and qualitative data from notebook responses could only be matched to classrooms not individual students. Student content scores (n=111; 23.13% response rate) were analyzed using an ANOVA post hoc Tukey’s test with SPSS Version 26. Content knowledge scores increased from 7.99 (SD=1.85) during the pre-program assessment to 9.76 (SD=2.44) post-modules (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). Student notebook responses provided qualitative data of their agricultural literacy development throughout the modules. Student responses from the useable 10 classrooms (n=172; 35.83% response rate) were inductively coded to reveal patterns that supported increased student agricultural literacy related to each module’s predetermined learning objectives. The increase in content scores along with student identification of learning objectives support the program’s ability to increase student agricultural literacy. Teacher feedback (n=9; 69.2% response rate) indicated that teachers agreed that each of the components (modules, notebook and team project) supported the program objectives and the majority reported that the program encouraged student participation and interest. We concluded that the E.G.G. program increased student content knowledge of the poultry industry and was a viewed as an implementable curriculum by teachers. </p> <p> Chapter Three shares the program’s procedures and results in relation to student situational interest during the program’s implementation. A pre-program questionnaire assessed student individual interest scores while post-module and post-program assessments evaluated student situational interest (n=111; 23.1% response rate). Increased individual interest scores (3.57± 0.10) may indicate a higher likelihood of having situational interest stimulated (scale: 1 to 5 with 1 having no interest and 5 having the highest level of individual interest). Results support that the online modules and the team project stimulated student situational interest because total situational interest scores, in addition to each individual subscale (i.e. attention, challenge, exploration, enjoyment, and novelty), were above a two on a four point Likert scale (scale: 1 to 4 with 1 having no situational interest during the activity and 4 having situational interest fully induced). <a>Previous validation of this assessment interprets subscale or total scores above a two to represent that students are experiencing situational interest during the activity in question. </a>Attention, challenge, novelty, and overall situational interest scores were significantly higher during the team project compared to the online modules (<i>p </i>< 0.01) while exploration and enjoyment subscales were similar. Student interest themes, coded from their notebook responses, showed interest in the modules’ learning objective topics with students demonstrating repeated interest in egg and hen anatomy and animal welfare. Overall, student situational interest was stimulated by the Elementary E.G.G. program, with overall interest highest during the team project compared with the online modules. Furthermore, students self-reported having interest in topics aligned with the modules’ learning objectives and inductive coding of responses found reappearing themes of interest relating to hen anatomy and animal welfare. </p> In conclusion, the results from the pilot Elementary E.G.G. program support that an integrated STEM and poultry science elementary curriculum has the potential to increase student agricultural literacy and can successfully impact student situational interest by engaging in purposefully developed activities. Further research is needed to adopt a framework across other poultry science sectors at a national level and improve accessibility of materials to a wider target audience. Additionally, improvements in program compliance may aid in increasing response rates of such research and are needed to increase transferability of findings.

The United States has shifted from a once agrarian, to a predominantly urban society (Riedel, 2006). Currently, less than 2% of the U.S. population live on farms. Coupled with urbanization, this has contributed to the decline of an agriculturally literate population (EPA, 2013; Kovar & Ball, 2013). One strategy to alter the public’s perception of agriculture and increase agricultural literacy is implementing an educational environment that promotes agricultural activities via experience (Blair, 2009). Experiential learning has been championed by prominent educational theorists John Dewey and David Kolb. Experiential learning is conceptualized as a process where relevant experiences are the foundation of learning and which allow for deeper connections between the learner and the subject. This study was a mixed methods design conducted at three private schools in Northeast Mississippi during the Spring of 2015. Tenth grade biology students were taught six (6) lessons contextualized in agriculture, with one group serving as a control group (no teaching), one group receiving direct instruction, and one group being provided with relevant experiences to agricultural topics. Results showed that distribution of post-test knowledge scores changed drastically by intervention groups. There were significant differences in post-test scores based on students’ involvement with experiential learning (p < .001). Further analysis of the data displayed that 67% of the variance in scores can be attributed to method of instruction received. In addition, focus groups were conducted to assess student knowledge gain and perceptions of agricultural production. Focus group responses were analyzed and grouped into the following themes: 1. The interesting and dynamic nature of agriculture and the lessons 2. Stereotypical preconceived notions of agriculture 3. Desire to learn more about agricultural topics 4. The role of experiential learning (and lack thereof) 5. Increase in knowledge, awareness, and appreciation of agriculture Results revealed that the participants who experienced the hands-on approach to the lessons had a more lasting and richer learning experience than those who did not participate in a hands-on approach. The results also indicated not only an increase in knowledge among students, but a willingness for future agricultural education opportunities and a deeper appreciation for agriculture.