This article is the author's Distinguished Lecture presented at the 2010 Annual Conference of the American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE), in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 25, 2010. In this lecture, the author looks back at the significant changes in agricultural education in the last 100 or so years and discusses four major ways that one…

Students must be able to create meaning from career and technical education texts. Reading and comprehension of texts are skills that develop through practice with a variety of texts, including those in career and technical education. A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design was used to determine the effect of implementing content…

A national survey of 216 agriscience teachers investigated the attitudes and practices related to reading. Knowledge of strategies, total time of text use, confidence in strategy use, and the general approach to reading explained 67% of the variance in frequency of content area reading strategy use. Teachers held positive attitudes about reading…

Agriscience is facing pressure to document and contribute to student achievement in math, science, and reading. Agriscience teachers may be able to foster student reading and comprehension through utilization of research-based reading strategies to further develop literacy in and about agriculture. Building on Dunkin and Biddle's (1974) model of…

A series of articles focuses upon the Supervised Occupational Experience Program (SOEP), a unique feature of programs of vocational agriculture. Articles deal with critical aspects of developing entrepreneurial skills, and include examples of successful entrepreneurship programs currently underway. (NRJ)

Depicts the extent of variability in masters degree programs in agricultural education: types of degrees, departments which offer them, thesis and nonthesis options, research requirements, number of hours required, and number of degrees awarded in 1979. (SK)

Plant tissue testing can be done to monitor plant nutrition levels during the growing season and diagnose nutrient deficiency problems. They can provide feedback on crop conditions and fertility needs. (Author)

As agriculture continues to change, the expertise of those who teach it must be strengthened and expanded. Illinois has instituted the Vocational Instructor Practicum (VIP) Program, which provides grants for teachers or administrators employed in public school vocational education programs to attend continuing education programs. (JOW)

Overloaded expectations of secondary agriculture teachers cause many to leave and others not to pursue teaching careers. Mentor programs for beginning teachers and clarification of job descriptions are two possible solutions. (SK)

This booklet is designed to serve as a practical guide to assist teachers in using the Illinois Core Curriculum in Agriculture to develop courses of study for local vocational agriculture courses. Provided first is an overview of vocational agriculture programs on the secondary-school level in the state of Illinois. The next section is a guide for…

Agricultural teachers must continually improve their knowledge and skills in animal science. Teacher educators can play a significant role in this process through the following channels: summer courses, teleconferencing, workshops, summer internships, technical update programs, field days, curriculum materials development and dissemination, and…