The Role of Teachers in Facilitating Mathematics Learning Opportunities in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Abstract

Strengthening knowledge and skills in mathematics is critically important to preparing the next generation of innovators, problem solvers, and interdisciplinary thinkers. School-based agricultural education offers a valuable context to co-develop mathematics knowledge and skills alongside knowledge and skills in agriculture, food, and natural resources. The current study explored the role of school-based agricultural education teachers in facilitating interdisciplinary agriculture, food, natural resources, and mathematics learning experiences. Findings suggest teachers possessed positive attitudes, supportive subjective norms, high levels of perceived behavioral control, and moderate to high perceptions of mathematics knowledge. Additionally, teachers intended to teach mathematics content in an average of 24.51% of agriculture, food, and natural resources curriculum. However, in modeling the intentions of school-based agricultural education teachers to teach math, the combination of attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and mathematics knowledge explained only 9% of the variance. Within the model, perceived behavioral control was a statistically significant, positive predictor of intentions to teach math. Findings are discussed in terms of statistical and practical significance, with specific recommendations for follow-up research exploring a wider breadth of variables potentially influencing intentions to teach math.