Preparing students to be life-long learners that are career and college ready is a goal of agricultural education. Changing expectations of education have pointed to agriculture educators as potential leaders in the STEM education movement. Literature related to STEM education in agricultural education is lacking in guidance for teachers, administrators, and curriculum developers in integrating academic content related to STEM content areas. A review of STEM education literature coupled with the framework of quantitative reasoning, lead to a conceptualization of a framework for integrative agricultural education. This framework was implemented through a case study to investigate collaborative efforts in curriculum development in agricultural education with a specific focus on integrating mathematics to develop students' quantitative reasoning skills. Teacher characteristics were identified that seemed to support the implementation of integrative agricultural education practices. Teaching and planning strategies were also identified in the case study. Recommendations suggest support of collaboration between agriculture and mathematics teachers would best support curriculum design and aid in the quality of instruction that follows. / Ph. D. / Agricultural education teachers work to prepare students to be life-long learners that are career and college ready. STEM education has become vogue in education. As expectations change about what students should learn and how they learn it, agriculture educators have potential to be leaders in the STEM movement. STEM education in agricultural education is lacking in guidance for teachers, administrators, and curriculum developers in integrating academic content related to STEM content areas. This dissertation presents a conceptualization of a framework for integrative agricultural education that combines elements characteristic of STEM education coupled with the concept of quantitative reasoning. The framework was used to research collaborative efforts in curriculum development in agricultural education with a specific focus on integrating mathematics to develop students’ quantitative reasoning skills. Results provide teacher characteristics that seemed to support implementation of integrative agricultural education practices. Teaching and planning strategies were also identified that lead to recommendations suggesting support of collaboration between agriculture and mathematics teachers would best support curriculum design and aid in the quality of instruction that follows.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/85861 |
| Date | 24 May 2017 |
| Creators | Robinson, Kelly Denise |
| Contributors | Agricultural and Extension Education, Westfall-Rudd, Donna M., Ernst, Jeremy V., Scherer, Hannah H., Drape, Tiffany A. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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