Teaching Biology Using Agriculture as the Context: Perceptions of High School Students

The purpose of this study was to determine how high school students perceived science and agriculture after completing a yearlong biology class that used animal agriculture as the context. This study utilized a case-study approach. The population for the study included all students who participated in a biology course utilizing animal agriculture as the context for teaching biology (N=531). More than 90% of the subjects reported they agreed or strongly agreed that participating in a biology class that used agriculture as the context helped them understand the relationship between science and agriculture. Over 85% of those responding agreed or strongly agreed that they appreciated the complex nature of animal agriculture as a result of taking the class, and the class helped them understand the practices used in animal agriculture. Nine of 10 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they appreciated the importance of agriculture and those who work in agriculture after participating in the class. Almost 90% disagreed or strongly disagreed with statements that animals should not be used for meat and that farmers raising animals are not concerned with the environment. Over 80% strongly agreed or agreed that raising animals for food and/or being a farmer is a noble profession. Introduction/Theoretical Framework Agricultural Education teachers have been encouraged to work at establishing methods for integrating more scientific principles into their agriculture curriculum. The concept of integrating science into agricultural education programs has been supported from various sources for almost two decades (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983; National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Agricultural Education in the Secondary Schools, 1988; Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1991). Research findings have supported the claim that integration of science into agriculture curricula is a more effective way to teach science. Studies conducted and replicated support the findings that students taught by integrating agricultural and scientific principles demonstrated higher achievement than did students taught by traditional approaches (Enderlin & Osborne, 1992; Enderlin, Petrea, & Osborne, 1993; Roegge & Russell, 1990; Whent & Leising, 1988). Osborne and Dyer (1998) discovered that “as a result curriculum redesign efforts in the 1990’s in agricultural education have converged on identifying promising strategies that incorporate more science into high school agricultural curricula” (p. 8). According to Science for All Americans (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989), a science literate person is one who: 1) is familiar with the natural world, 2) understands the key concepts and principles of science, mathematics, and technology, 3) has a capacity for scientific ways of thinking, 4) is aware of some of the important ways in which mathematics, technology, and science depend upon one another, 5) knows that science, mathematics, and technology are human enterprises, and what that implies about their strengths and limitations, and 6) is able to use scientific knowledge and ways of thinking for personal and social purposes. A contextual approach to scientific thinking is embedded in each of the above statements. To improve science literacy and students’ understanding about the nature of Journal of Agricultural Education 56 Volume 43, Number 2, 2002 Balschweid Teaching Biology Using... science, students must be challenged to think about science as something more than just sitting in the traditional science classroom. They need exposure to multiple opportunities for thinking scientifically, and multiple opportunities for applying scientific reasoning to everyday, complex problems. Helping students understand the nature of science rather than what they know about science has been a recent focus of research in science. Devlin (1998, p.B6) states, “it is neither possible nor necessary for the general population to have detailed scientific knowledge across a range of disciplines. Instead, what is important is scientific awareness.” The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21 Century, referred to as the Glenn Commission, calls student performance in mathematics and science unacceptable (National Commission on Mathematics and Science, 2000). By approaching students with diverse interests in various disciplines with curriculum that supports formal science education, science could be relevant to those who are disengaged with traditional approaches to teaching science. Although recent science publications have espoused the attributes of integrating the science curricula, the level of integration referred to is almost always with other science courses (Scotter, Bybee & Dougherty, 2000; Steckelberg, Hoadley, Thompson, Martin, & Borman, 2000; Henriques, 2000). Limited evidence exists to support the concept that science teachers should look for ways to integrate more hands-on applied science concepts into the science curricula. To date, the researcher could find no empirical evidence to suggest that science teachers have been advised to integrate agricultural science and/or food system concepts into their curricula in an attempt to make science relevant to their students. Likewise, no information could be found advising science teachers to initiate contact with other teachers in an effort to collaborate with teachers of similar content. The experiential learning model provides the theoretical basis for this project. According to Dewey (1938), education is not a single step in a moment of time but rather a series of overlapping events that serve to help the learner construct meaning in much more than just the subject matter being presented. Dewey (1938, p. 49-50) states: Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical fallacies is the notion that a person learns only the particular thing he is studying at the time. Collateral learning in the way of formation of enduring attitudes, of likes and dislikes, may be and often is much more important...For these attitudes are fundamentally what count in the future. The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning. If impetus in this direction is weakened instead of being intensified, something much more than mere lack of preparation takes place. Further evidence for providing students with multiple contexts is found in brainbased research and learning by Caine and Caine (1994) who call for education to recognize the big picture. They add, “the part is always embedded in a whole, the fact is always embedded in multiple contexts, and a subject is always related to many other issues and subjects” (p. 7). Therefore, brainbased theory and the experiential learning theory suggest that the interface between context and content provides students with multiple opportunities for transfer and overlap of complementary concepts. In 1993, a biology teacher in a large high school in the Midwest began teaching a traditional biology course using agricultural science as the context for scientific principles. The biology teacher’s training includes a Bachelor’s of Science in Agricultural Education. However, the teacher did not enter the Agricultural Science and Business-teaching field, but instead chose to teach traditional science for the past 31 years. The motivation for teaching biology using a yearlong thematic approach centered around the teacher’s desire to expose students to concepts of where food originates. No classes in Agricultural Science and Business are taught in this high school or the entire school district. Journal of Agricultural Education 57 Volume 43, Number 2, 2002 Balschweid Teaching Biology Using... The teacher created a series of instructional units, field trips, laboratory activities, and guest speakers focused on a specific farm animal for each year. Alternating between poultry, swine, and dairy cows, the teacher taught traditional biology concepts using the animal agriculture context for six years. Many of the students who live in the 60,000+ communities had never experienced, firsthand, animal agriculture and never considered the scientific understanding necessary to be involved in animal agriculture. Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine how high school students perceived science and agriculture after completing a traditional yearlong biology class that used animal agriculture as the context. Agricultural Science and Business teachers should benefit from this knowledge through a greater understanding of the importance of linking agriculture and science instruction. This knowledge should also be helpful to science teachers interested in developing approaches that increase interest in science and improve the relevance of science in their classrooms. To fulfill the purposes of the study, the following research questions were addressed: 1. What are selected demographic variables of students completing a traditional biology class that was taught using animal agriculture as the context? 2. What are the perceptions of students concerning the relationship between science and agriculture after completing a traditional biology class that was taught using animal agriculture as the context? 3. What are student perceptions of agriculture after completing a traditional biology class that was taught using animal agriculture as the context? 4. What level of knowledge about agriculture did students of a traditional biology class retain after completing the course?