The student teaching practicum experience is designed to give preservice teachers practical experience with teaching and is an important step in their development. While literature in agricultural education exists about preservice teacher professional development, little is known about the developmental process of agriculture teachers during the…

Nationwide, agricultural education has experienced a shortage of qualified school-based agriculture teachers for over four decades. Students who seek careers as agriculture teachers are often those who participated in agricultural education and FFA in high school. The Ag Ed FITChoice® Model (Lawver 2009; Lawver & Torres, 2012) was used as the…

The educational importance of teacher self-efficacy necessitates research into variables presumed to significantly influence teacher self-efficacy. In the current study, the role of personal and programmatic variables on the self-efficacy of school-based agriculture teachers was explored. Self-efficacy was measured in five aspects of the…

To extend current understanding of school-based agriculture teacher development, this study explored the relationship between teacher development experiences and the self-efficacy of early career agriculture teachers. Three teacher development experiences were of interest: (a) preservice coursework, (b) student teaching, and (c) professional…

Agricultural education can take scientific topics to higher levels, emphasize scientific concepts, involve hands-on learning, and develop interrelationships with the other sciences, thus making the living and non-living world around them relevant for students, potentially supporting a STEM curriculum. As such, in 1996, Utah deemed agricultural…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in career commitment and perceived efficacy among early career agriculture teachers as well as the relationships between early career agriculture teachers' perceived efficacy and career commitment. Five areas of self-efficacy were investigated among early career agriculture teachers in…

This study examined the impact of sequencing practicums for welding on students' ability to perform a 1F (flat position-fillet lap joint) weld on low-carbon steel. Participants were randomly assigned a specific practice sequence of welding for using gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). A total of 71 participants…

The purpose of this multi-state study was to identify agricultural education teachers' perceived level of importance regarding selected instructional supervisory practices used in the nonformal components of agricultural education. The theoretical frame supporting this study was the theory of andragogy. Data were reported on the perceived…

The purpose of this study was to examine the level of occupational stress among Utah agriculture teachers, and to determine the coping mechanisms utilized to manage teaching related stressful events. Teachers were asked to rank their level of occupational stress according to the scale used by the American Psychological Association Stress in…

The purpose of this study was to identify beliefs held by agricultural education teachers regarding the supervision of instruction by the principal. This study was based on the work of Ferguson and Bargh (2004) regarding how social perception can automatically influence behavior. Data were reported on ten general beliefs regarding instructional…

The purpose of this study was to investigate student perceptions toward factors influencing Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) participation. This descriptive study was conducted in 120 randomly selected agricultural education programs throughout four purposively selected states representative of the National FFA regions. Within each state…

The purpose of this study was to investigate student Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) knowledge and participation. This descriptive study was conducted in 120 randomly selected agricultural education programs throughout four purposively selected states representative of the National FFA regions. Students completed a questionnaire assessing…

This study identified and prioritized the agricultural in-service needs of introductory level career and technical education teachers in Utah. The Utah State Board of Education requires that all seventh grade students complete an introductory career and technical education course as their first formal career exploration experience. One component…

The focus of this descriptive study was to determine the type and frequency of collaborative activities occurring between agriculture teachers and science teachers who taught in schools with agricultural education programs. Additional foci of this study included determining the extent to which science and agriculture teachers value collaborative…

Stakeholder groups (150 farmers, 36 secondary agriculture teachers, 16 preservice teachers, 85 nonfarm secondary students, 128 farm students) were surveyed. They agreed on farm safety topics to be taught, but differed in levels of belief concerning the need to teach it. Farm and nonfarm students gave the lowest priority to farm safety topics. (SK)