Examining Agricultural Mechanics Projects and Their Use as Supervised Agricultural Experiences

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine current agricultural mechanics project construction and its use as a supervised agricultural experience in Texas and was conducted using survey methods. The population was composed of agricultural education teachers who had students with an agricultural mechanics project at one or more of four selected agricultural mechanics project shows from the state. The sampling strategy was purposive in nature and all teachers were surveyed (N = 324). A response rate of 45.1% (n = 146) was achieved. Participants reported 2,626 agricultural mechanics projects were constructed for exhibition by students. Agricultural education teachers reported the majority of the projects used as a student’s SAE were classified under the entrepreneurship category. Results indicate teachers believe in-class hours should count toward a student’s SAE, agricultural mechanics projects should be used for SAEs, and record books were kept on about half of the projects. Recommendations include using more agricultural mechanics projects as SAEs and providing professional development for teachers in the area of SAE classification and using group projects for SAEs.