Assessing the Acceptance of Incorporating Agriculture into Elementary School Curriculum

Abstract

Agriculture is essential to meeting our basic human needs for food, clothing and shelter, however; many citizens lack the agricultural literacy to understand the connection between agriculture, the environment and themselves. It is necessary for individuals to be agriculturally literate to make informed every-day decisions. It is vital that young people are given the opportunity to become agriculturally literate and that teachers understand the value of educating students about agriculture. Through the use of a teacher survey distributed to elementary school teachers in grades Kindergarten through 6th; this study assessed teacher acceptance of incorporating agriculture into elementary school curriculum. A total of 407 teachers participated in the study. The results suggest that elementary grade teachers perceive agriculture education as important and they would be interested in learning more about incorporating it into their curriculum. However, most of the participants were not currently using agriculture in their classrooms. Recommendations include increased marketing of AITC resources and connections with pre-service teachers. Further research should include a national replication for more generalizability.