Currently, most Americans are 2 to 4 generations removed from the farm, as only 2% are involved with agriculture. Thus, verifying the importance of agriculture education implementation to promote the agriculture industry. MSU has a novel Hatch-out Program in attempt to bridge the gap in agriculture awareness. Research for this thesis first evaluates previous participants of the Hatch-out Program to assess satisfaction to determine if modifications are needed. This thesis will conclude with the implementation and validation of the modified curriculum, lesson plans, as well as activities and materials into the classroom. A post-implementation survey was also given to the teachers to evaluate ease of implementation as well as age-appropriateness. Results revealed an increase of knowledge across all grades in respect to the pre- and post-test. Survey results revealed an ease of implementation as well as age-appropriateness from teacher surveys.

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.