Assessing the Impact of a Semester-long Course in Agricultural Mechanics on Pre-service Agricultural Education Teachers’ Importance, Confidence, and Knowledge of Welding

Abstract

This study sought to assess the perceptions of Oklahoma pre-service agricultural education teachers regarding the importance of identified welding skills standards and their confidence to teach them, based on a semester-long course on metals and welding. This study also sought to determine pre-service teachers’ knowledge of welding prior to and at the end of instruction. It was found that pre-service teachers rated the seven constructs above average in importance; yet, they had below average confidence in their abilities to teach them at the beginning of the semester and between average and above average confidence at the end of the semester, which resulted in large practical effect sizes. Further, they increased their knowledge score from an F at the beginning of the semester to a C at the end of the semester, which was both statistically and practically significant. These pre-service teachers should be followed, longitudinally, to determine if and when they are able to fully master the skills and teach them effectively in the classroom and laboratory settings. Because agricultural mechanics is a vast field, future research should assess pre-service teachers’ perceived levels of importance and confidence in areas outside of welding, such as electricity, plumbing, and small gas engines