Vol. 54 No. 01 (2004)

The manuscripts in Volume 54, Issue 1 (2004) of the Journal of Southern Agricultural Education Research (JSAER) present a rich and wide-ranging examination of FFA leadership development, critical thinking, science integration, diversity inclusion, technology in agriculture, and teacher hiring and preparation.

FFA Leadership and Critical Thinking

• Critical Thinking Skills of FFA Leaders: A descriptive study of selected FFA youth leaders finds they are competent critical thinkers, scoring highest on analysis and lowest on evaluation sub-skills, with GPA significantly associated with analytical ability, recommending that agricultural educators target the evaluation sub-skill in instruction and invest in maintaining as well as developing critical thinking capacity.
• Critical Thinking Dispositions and Skills of FFA Youth Leaders: A correlational study of 212 FFA youth leaders from 50 states finds positive but low relationships between critical thinking skills and innovativeness and engagement dispositions, and a low negative relationship with cognitive maturity, recommending that educators expose students to diverse cultures and experiences to strengthen critical thinking dispositions.
• Leadership Development Factors of Former Florida State FFA Officers: A survey of 94 former Florida State FFA officers from a 25-year span finds that the agricultural education program and FFA were the most influential constructs for leadership development, with leadership conferences, FFA contests, goal-setting, and the agriculture teacher identified as the most impactful individual influences, recommending formal leadership instruction, continued non-formal FFA leadership education, and greater urbanization of agricultural education programs.
• Principal Perceptions of FFA and Leadership Skills: A quantitative survey of Texas secondary principals at schools with FFA chapters finds broad agreement that FFA membership and participation help students develop goal-setting, responsibility, social skills, problem solving, honesty, and integrity, recommending further research to leverage these findings in building stronger relationships between agriscience teachers and building administrators.
• Female Leadership in Urban Florida FFA Chapters: A qualitative study of outstanding female FFA leaders and their advisors in six urban Florida high schools finds that girls are drawn to agriscience through interest in animals and biology careers and pursue leadership at higher rates than boys, with female role models as teachers and former officers identified as key contributing factors, recommending further study of why male agriscience students view FFA leadership as less important.

Science Integration and Informal Learning

• Agriculture Teachers' Capacity for Teaching Science Integrated Process Skills: A study of 40 purposively sampled agriculture teachers using the Test of Integrated Process Skills finds that teachers possess a solid background in science process skills regardless of learning style, years of experience, certification area, or gender, providing an empirical base to support agriculture teachers' capacity to teach science and recommending that teacher preparation leverage this foundation.
• Informal Learning in Science and Agricultural Education's Role: A conceptual analysis of science education literature finds that SAE and FFA hold high potential for supporting students' informal learning in science, recommending that agriculture teachers design learning experiences that embed scientific knowledge in agricultural contexts and that empirical research be conducted to verify agricultural education's contribution to science achievement.
• Governor's School for Agriculture and Student Agricultural Literacy: A pre/post evaluation of the Virginia Governor's School for Agriculture finds significant gains in students' agricultural knowledge after completing the four-week program, with the largest perception changes occurring around biotechnology and animal rights, and students with prior agricultural experience expressing stronger support for humane animal treatment, recommending such intensive programs as effective vehicles for agricultural literacy development.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Enrollment

• Barriers and Benefits to Diversity Inclusion in North Carolina Agricultural Education: A study of North Carolina secondary agricultural education teachers finds that educators broadly value diversity and believe it enhances character, leadership, and critical thinking, but identify guidance counselors and agriculture's perceived image as major barriers to inclusion, recommending preservice multicultural training, reflective diversity practices, and collaborative relationships with guidance counselors.
• Student Perceptions of Agriculture's Image and Enrollment Barriers: A quantitative study of Arkansas high school freshmen finds that non-minority students have significantly higher mean scores for reasons to enroll in agricultural education and more positive perceptions of the field, while both minority and non-minority students report enrolling for reasons other than agriculture's intended purpose, recommending targeted outreach to minority students and attention to how agricultural education is positioned and communicated.
• Kentucky University Freshmen Attitudes Toward Agricultural Education: A survey of 365 university freshmen majoring in agriculture at Kentucky institutions finds that those with prior high school agricultural education hold more positive attitudes toward the profession and its value for college-bound students, while students without that experience are more uncertain, recommending that agricultural educators use these findings to strengthen college preparation messaging.
• Factors Influencing Kentucky Agriculture Freshmen's College Decisions: A companion study finds that career opportunities are the most important factor in choosing to major in agriculture, parents are the most influential people in college selection, and campus visits are the most helpful information source, recommending that university agricultural programs evaluate their recruitment processes and strengthen faculty contact with prospective students.

Technology in Agricultural Education

• Introductory Agriscience Technology Course and IT Skills: A study of 1,312 Mississippi secondary students finds that students in both AEST and biology/business programs developed greater proficiency in a range of information technology skills over the course of a school year, though it remains unclear whether the course itself drove these gains, recommending further research to identify agricultural-specific IT competencies that should anchor curriculum development.
• Web-based Survey Response Validity: A quantitative study comparing early and late respondents to an online survey of 299 Florida Extension agents finds that demographics are largely comparable between groups, though late respondents skew more female and rate their IT skills somewhat lower, providing preliminary support for web-based survey methods and recommending further refinement of protocols for comparing respondent groups.

Teacher Hiring and Program Administration

• Criteria Administrators Use When Hiring Agriculture Teachers: A qualitative phone interview study of 24 Oklahoma administrators who hired first-year agriculture teachers finds that subject matter knowledge, classroom management, community rapport, enthusiasm, and the ability to manage student projects are the most highly valued hiring criteria, with cooperating teacher recommendations carrying the most weight and full certification preferred over alternative certification.
• Role of Cooperative Extension as Perceived by North Carolina Administrators: A modified Delphi study of North Carolina Extension administrators finds that while administrators believe in the Extension mission, they feel it should expand to include community development, leadership development, and environmental education, and predict funding challenges ahead, recommending stronger community linkages and more aggressive marketing of Extension's value.

Service Learning and Special Populations

• Service Learning and Academic Achievement in an Agricultural Computing Course: A quasi-experimental study finds no significant difference in academic achievement between students who completed a service-learning project involving digital video development and those who did not, recommending further research before drawing conclusions about service-learning's impact on academic performance in agricultural computing contexts.
• Intergenerational Service Learning and Stereotypes Toward Older Adults: A descriptive study finds that service-learning activities in which agricultural computing students taught computer skills to retirement center residents produced favorable changes in students' stereotypes toward older adults, particularly in perceptions of residents' personalities, recommending expanded use of intergenerational service-learning in appropriate courses.
• Therapeutic Riding as an Educational Tool for Children with Disabilities: A qualitative study of parents whose children participate in therapeutic riding programs finds strong perceived benefits in self-esteem, direction-following, and socialization skills, with parents expressing support for integrating therapeutic riding into school curricula, recommending therapeutic riding as a mechanism for development of children with disabilities.

Research Methods and Leadership Program Evaluation

• Survey vs. Interview Data in Leadership Education Research: A mixed-methods study of graduates of a Southwestern agricultural leadership program finds that while self-report surveys indicated gains in knowledge and leadership behavior, in-depth interviews revealed participants had not made meaningful impacts on rural community development, concluding the program functioned primarily as an awareness experience and challenging the profession to use more rigorous evaluation methods including qualitative follow-up to verify program outcomes.
• Learning Style Instruments in Agricultural Education Research: A content analysis of 248 articles published in the Journal of Agricultural Education from 1988 to 2002 identifies 29 that explicitly addressed learning styles, finding that the Group Embedded Figures Test is the most commonly used instrument and that studies rely predominantly on descriptive designs and college student samples, recommending that researchers diversify both the instruments and populations studied in future learning style research.
• 4-H and FFA Involvement and Gender in an Animal Science Course: A quantitative study at a non-land grant university finds that students who were highly active in both 4-H and FFA reported higher confidence in course topics and scored higher on initial tests, though final average was not significantly affected by youth organization involvement, while males scored higher on initial assessments and last-day tests but not final grades, recommending further study of how prior youth organization participation shapes academic preparation and self-assessment accuracy.