I sometimes like to think about what my ideal agricultural
program would be like. What would the facilities be like? How would the
students learn? What would the program focus be? My thoughts gravitate to
images of me walking through the young orchard of fruit and nut trees early in
the morning with my students following me and observing the living processes
around them. In my vision, learning is a result of being aware of what is happening
around us. The students’ curiosity leads questions and problems that they want
to solve.
As teachers we are supposed to be preparing young people to
be critical thinkers and creative; competent in the four areas identified as 21st century skills. That seems difficult to do when we use the same approaches that have led us to our current failing educational system.
Larmer and Mergendoller insist that to accomplish this task, project based learning can be especially effective.
Project based learning is more that just having the students complete projects to apply the knowledge that learned in the classroom. Project based learning is when the projects become the learning method. The students create their own projects based on their interests. Their natural curiosity and passion help drive them to ask questions and search for answers to the various problems or obstacles they encounter.
School-based agricultural education I believe is in a unique position to implement project based learning, considering that supervised agricultural experiences is part of the education model.
While reading up on project based learning and thinking about SAE's, I kept thinking about ways to help students find something that they are passionate about so that they can truly reap all of the benefits that this learning technique can provide. I did some searching around and I found a few resources that I think will be helpful in encouraging students to design and develop their projects.
I will share one with you that I found particularly helpful and I encourage you to check it out.
http://www.exploresae.com/
Larmer and Mergendoller insist that to accomplish this task, project based learning can be especially effective.
Project based learning is more that just having the students complete projects to apply the knowledge that learned in the classroom. Project based learning is when the projects become the learning method. The students create their own projects based on their interests. Their natural curiosity and passion help drive them to ask questions and search for answers to the various problems or obstacles they encounter.
School-based agricultural education I believe is in a unique position to implement project based learning, considering that supervised agricultural experiences is part of the education model.
While reading up on project based learning and thinking about SAE's, I kept thinking about ways to help students find something that they are passionate about so that they can truly reap all of the benefits that this learning technique can provide. I did some searching around and I found a few resources that I think will be helpful in encouraging students to design and develop their projects.
I will share one with you that I found particularly helpful and I encourage you to check it out.
http://www.exploresae.com/
Michael, I love you vision of what you see your future or possible agricultural program to be like. It is very inspiring. One thing I do love about agriculture and most of the students that take this course, is they want to be there and they want to learn. Once we show them all the windows of opportunities, it is amazing what students may find, learn, discover and even ask more questions on.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a good point that students should also see problem based learning as 21st century skills development, but also career exploration. Hopefully at least one student has an interest in that area and you can use their passion to tie into the importance of the problem.
ReplyDeleteI like that you tied it to SAE's! Idea: what if we created a project in class, maybe one of the first ones, or at least during freshman year that was on a basic plant science topic. After that project is completed, give students an extended assignment where they have to create a project that will then become there SAE? Then it is even more of an extension of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteding ding ding...
ReplyDeleteOne reason Ag is the premier delivery system is that it provides a built in tool (SAE) that directly connects to authentic problems which creates relevancy for students.. our challenge/trick is to figure how to tap that!