Action Based Research Reflective Blog

For my action based research project, I contacted Mrs. B when I first heard about it. She is currently completing her masters degree and had to complete research for it as well so she invited me to jump on the band wagon. We researched student and teacher perception of agricultural courses at our high school.

Through the research we found that the top 3 non-ag student perceptions were that they....

1) selected other classes for future careers

2) no room in schedule/ do not believe ag classes will help future career

3) not interested in ag classes

Top 3 Ag Student Perceptions were...

1) interested in/ enjoy ag topics

2) ag classes will prepare for future career

3) advised by an adult to take ag classes/ FFA member so needs an ag class. 

Top 3 teacher perceptions

1) leadership skills are important

2) variety of subjects is important

3) would recommend ag to interested students/ academic rigor should be present in every class. 

I thought these results were really interesting! Non- ag students were not taking the classes because they were not career relevant?! I bet I could tie their career into something in agriculture, especially something that needs a soft skill or leadership skill!

Though something that I have also noticed in my classes that I have taught, is that even some of the students in agricultural courses don't think that the class is relevant. An example of this is a student that had to write a speech for the prepared public speaking CDE. She was convinced that nothing would relate to what she wants to do, and that she definitely didn't want to be a farmer. I tried to make it career relevant for her by having her research advertising and the importance of a logo on agricultural products and how it ties in with marketing and product success. I believe that helped, because she seemed more interested in the topic and the assignment.

This research was really interesting since it will be applicable in multiple agricultural education departments. What I learned here about how academic students are really interested in becoming prepared for their careers, I can use that information in my own future program. This assignment was also helpful to get my toes wet with action based research. I have the experience from my own school and experience, but I will also learn about what the rest of my classmates have done and I am sure that all of our experiences are different. I also got more experience working with powerpoint to create a professional poster to showcase the research that I have completed.