THE EFFECTS OF AN AGRICULTURAL LITERACY TREATMENT ON PARTICIPATING K-12 TEACHERS AND THEIR CURRICULA

Abstract

Oregon State University ‘s Summer Agriculture Institute (SAI) is an agricultural literacy program aimed at Oregon 3 non-agriculture K-I2 teachers. Since the debut of this program in 1998, no study has been conducted to determine SAI's effectiveness with participating K-12 teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which participating teachers used the material received at SAI in their curricula, and to determine teacher perceptions of the content, structure, and usability of the agricultural literacy program presentations and materials. Additionally, the study sought to identify existing barriers that prevented teachers from integrating agriculture into their curricula. A mailed questionnaire was sent to a purposive sample of SAI participants. Findings indicated that teachers ’ curricula included significant instruction utilizing agriculture as the context for teaching as a result of attending the Summer Agriculture Institute. Results of the study also revealed that a lack of time to implement agricultural information and insufficient access to necessary supplies and materials were the greatest barriers to implementing agriculture into their curricula.