What are the teachers’ experiences when implementing the Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education?

Abstract

This multiple case study was designed to understand the experience of implementing the Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) for five teachers at four high schools. All teachers were in their first year of implementing CASE. Through the use of weekly journals, semistructured interviews and a focus group, researchers attempted to gain insight into how the teachers were implementing CASE as well as their perceptions of the curriculum’s impact on their program and students. Five themes emerged from the study: a) some teachers adapted more easily to the student-centeredness of the curriculum; b) teachers enjoyed having content available, but none of them made it all the way through the material; c) the materials and equipment were essential to the successful implementation of CASE; d) teachers saw attending the CASE training institute as vital to their implementation of the curriculum; and, e) implementing CASE allowed the teachers to refocus. Additionally, researchers used the Concerns Based Adoption Model as a framework for this study and determined each teacher’s level of use, stage of concern and innovation configuration. Recommendations are included for classroom teachers, teacher educators, as well as the CASE developers.