Educating and Training Future Farmers, Researchers and Extension Personnel in Sustainable Agriculture

In addition to developing teaching materials that can be used on teach farms, a major contribution of our work was to create a model, a typology in this case that reflects the key characteristics, particularly the differences, in how professors use teaching farms to enhance learning about sustainable agriculture (Northcutt and McCoy 2004). The ultimate aim of this research went beyond understanding the role of the farm for individual professors in individual courses. Rather, we wanted to understand the way teaching farms are being used by professors in terms of their overall mission as educators. What are professors trying to accomplish when they incorporate a teaching farm into their classes? How do they think the farm will help them achieve their overall educational aims for their students? What do they think the farm adds to the student’s educational experience that will make the overall educational experience more meaningful and lasting for the student? The final stage in our analysis was to create a model or models of how faculty members at four-year universities perceive the role of teaching farms in achieving their goals and objectives as professors. We needed a model or models of these broader uses of the teaching farm in order to be able to create educational materials for professors that would meet their needs and help them make the best use of teaching farms as a pedagogical resource. Identifying the professors’ broad goals for the teaching farms was critical to developing objective-based learning materials.

 While we originally anticipated that a single model might emerge from our analysis of teaching farms, the analysis revealed four distinctly different roles for the teaching farm as a component in an overall instructional strategy and approach. This is not a typology based on the physical attributes of teaching farms (the kinds of infrastructure, crops, etc.), but rather a typology of four distinct approaches of faculty members who use teaching farms to achieve overall educational goals and objectives. In fact, any specific physical farm – the infrastructure – could play different roles for faculty members who have different overall teaching goals and objectives. The three conceptual frames that emerged in the second step in our analysis provided the structure for identifying the key characteristics of each of the four ideal types.  The four types are described below.

Enhancement Role. In this role, the teaching farm provides complementary activities to a primarily classroom-based course. Faculty members typically want to reach application level types of learning objectives on the farm, but the role adapts well to a wide range of learning outcomes. Examples of specific learning outcomes include introducing students to agriculture, giving them an appreciation of what is involved in farming, or allowing students to apply a concept or idea learned in the classroom. Activities emphasize building on or extending the concepts and ideas from the classroom. Examples are demonstrations, short projects or tasks, and observations. Activities can typically be completed in a short time frame, many in a single class period. They are discrete, rather than extended projects. The time spent on the farm is largely limited to class time and instructors may describe the use of the farm as ‘farm visits.’ Assessment techniques are not elaborate and may be based primarily or even exclusively on compliance with required activities. Teachers often see the role of the farm as a way to more fully engage students in the course: get them outside, eliminate distractions (e.g. texting) and other activities that often occur in the classroom. The teaching farm is also used to ‘equalize’ students, to allow ‘non-academics’ or ‘students with learning disabilities’ to succeed. Levels of institutional and faculty support are not critical for this role because the faculty make use of what facilities are available opportunistically. They rely on what is available or ‘make do’ with what they have. Accessibility can be a major constraint for this role since time on the farm is typically during the school day. Moving the farm off-campus seriously limits its utility in this role. Many faculty members say their course would be different without the teaching farm, but they do not use the farm as the core of the learning experience. Achieving course objectives does not depend on the farm.

Competency Role. The teaching farm in the competency role serves fundamentally as a replica of an operating farm. Learning outcomes focus on technical competencies needed for employment in production agriculture. Professors use the teaching farm as a critical component in the curriculum, often requiring lengthy and intensive effort on the part of students. Full two-semester course sequences, requirements for students to complete activities and projects on their own time, and designation of the course(s) as the students’ capstone experience are common. Emphasis on the application cognitive level is pronounced. Professors typically stress ‘hands on experience,’ learning about all aspects of farming including farm management, and giving students a chance to apply what they learn about in the classroom. Professors also stress professional skills like communication, responsibility, and time management as desired course outcomes. Class projects that incorporate farm, crop, or business plans may be part of the course, and a wide variety of farming practices are incorporated, in some cases involving livestock and crop production systems. While group projects are the norm, faculty members stress that every member of the group must become proficient in each skill or competency. Group venues for activities are a common way of teaching professional responsibilities and roles. Analytic abilities are a secondary emphasis, with a strong focus on identifying problems and the potential solutions to them. A typical example would be that a group of students must diagnose a problem, find information about how to solve the problem, and then decide which of several potential solutions they would apply. Professors often emphasize keeping a journal of observations and presentations as components of the learning activities. Assessment also stresses the ‘practical’ or ‘applied’ emphasis in this role. For example, some professors use peer evaluation by group members and evaluation by faculty and non-faculty members of group projects in addition to the traditional individual professor evaluation of student performance, stressing assessment to determine how ‘realistic’ or ‘practical’ the plans are. Faculty and institutional commitment is critical for the competency role. To function as ‘replicas’ of operating farms, the teaching farm needs to reflect the kinds of enterprises, equipment, and conditions that students can expect to encounter after graduation. Marketing components like an on-campus CSA or farmers’ market, for example, may be important for students to learn about marketing. The need for fiscal, human and physical infrastructure is high and one problem for these farms is the high cost per student for the educational experience.

Exploration Role. In this role, the teaching farm is a critical component in allowing students to explore complex concepts dealing with the social, economic and environmental aspects of agriculture. Desired student learning outcomes focus on higher cognitive skills like analysis, evaluation and, in some cases, creating. Faculty members want students to be able to identify problems and pose potential solutions for them as in the case of the competency role, but the importance of discovery learning is much greater. Faculty will stress the importance of learning from the consequences of decisions or learning from mistakes, often encouraging students to test alternative solutions and evaluate the outcomes from each. Assessment also tends to be comprehensive. Peer, group, and self-evaluation are commonly important components of assessment. Assessment also often involves reaction papers in which students use what they learn on the farm to reflect upon and discuss complex topics or issues. Group activities are the core of the learning experience on the farm. Unlike the competency role, group projects tend to be developed and planned by the students, not by the professor. Group projects often include an experimental or inquiry component and the end product includes reflection upon the learning experience. Learning about group processes is itself a learning objective in many cases, going beyond shared responsibility to goals that deal with management of the group or team experience. Students will typically organize their own projects, including the non-class time that they must spend to complete the activities. Activities are often designed to integrate what students learn in the classroom, including concepts, processes and skills. Farms used in this role are much more apt to explore the social components of agriculture. Service learning experiences are not uncommon as components in this type. For example, students host field days or trainings on the farm or work with schools in ‘school to farm’ visits. Faculty members frequently mentioned using all of the students’ senses (auditory, kinesthetic, visual) in the learning activities. Overall, their objective is to provide an intellectually stimulating learning experience in which the student gains mastery of both skills and competencies and higher level critical thinking skills. Faculty and institutional support for these farms are critical because the cost per student for the learning experience is high. In addition, outside support may also be critical because student projects may involve service learning components. The need to involve faculty members from multiple disciplines and to have the facilities that provide for the range of projects and activities needed to achieve course goals drives costs in this role.

Foundation Role. In the foundation role, the teaching farm serves as the organizing or focal point for a holistic educational approach that focuses on giving the student a foundation for his/her life career and personal development. The role of the farm is not particularly necessary to teach students ‘about agriculture or farming,’ or ‘how to run a farm.’ Rather, the farm becomes the professor’s venue for personal and professional development for students. The learning outcomes deal as much with the student’s ability to make life and career choices and develop his/her intellectual abilities as to learn specific techniques or skills. The activities are varied, but tend to focus on learning experiences that will encourage students to explore a wide array of ideas and concepts and how s/he can apply those in his/her own life. Group activities are common, but the outcomes in the foundation role include students bonding with their peers, developing a sense of their own life goals, and exploring how to use what they learn to address larger social concerns. Faculty members use the teaching farm to break down barriers between themselves and their students and between students. Projects are common, but students have the freedom to explore a very broad array of issues and topics in the projects. Assessment focuses strongly on what the individual gains from the process, both in terms of knowledge and experience. Reflection papers, group discussions, and peer reflection are strong components in assessment. The faculty member serves as a guide and mentor in the learning process. Faculty and institutional support are important, but not critical for this role. Facilities are not as critical as time with the student and the students’ ability to interact with each other, with faculty members, and with individuals and organizations outside the university.

Discussion

            The four types of roles in which teaching farms are used in post-secondary education provide insight into the diverse learning experiences professors try to create by utilizing a farm in their curriculum. Farms can be critical components of a course or can serve to supplement concepts and ideas presented in a traditional classroom setting. Many of the faculty members interviewed demonstrate how teaching farms can enhance student learning and assist professors in facilitating learning experiences that encourage higher cognitive abilities. However, the degree to which professors take advantage of the farm as a teaching tool that promotes creativity and problem solving largely depends on professors’ understanding of pedagogical methods. All of the faculty members interviewed said that they do try to incorporate the experiential learning model into their courses using the teaching farm, but their understanding of the theory of experiential learning varied. Most faculty reduced experiential learning to fairly limited cognitive goals, giving the students the opportunity to “apply what they hear in the class room” or gain “hands-on experience.” This account of experiential learning theory is incomplete and over-emphasizes the Concrete Experience components in the learning process. It also misidentifies this component essentially equating concrete experience to simple repetition of a skill or idea. Concrete experience in Kolb’s view involves higher cognitive skills, such as problem solving. This view of experiential learning is quite pronounced among faculty using the teaching farm in a competency role. Professors using the farm in the exploration or foundation roles were more likely to incorporate all four of the learning processes into their courses whether or not they were able to clearly articulate the theory of experiential learning.

            Faculty also use the farm to accomplish other teaching goals. For example, the teaching farm was often seen as a way to meet the needs of diverse learners. Many faculty felt the teaching farm created learning opportunities that were appealing for students who may not enjoy traditional classroom learning, preferred “learning by doing”, or were more kinesthetic learners. This belief reflects an outdated understanding of modern pedagogy and the ability to use learning theory to design learning objectives and course activities. Experiential learning and most other theoretically based learning models suggest learners need to participate in multiple learning processes and that although students may have a preferred learning style completion of the learning cycle is critical for higher level comprehension and cognitive skill development (Kolb 2005).

            The extent to which the six teaching goal areas proposed by Angelo and Cross are accomplished through teaching farms also varies depending on the professor’s overall course objectives and approach to using the farm. Strong emphasis was placed on career and work preparation when course learning objectives focused primarily on preparing students to work on a farm. However, other professors made it a priority to incorporate other liberal arts disciplines into the curriculum and provide students an experience on the farm that would contribute to their personal development. Focus on these goal areas was more common in courses using the teaching farm in its foundation role. Courses using the teaching farm in the exploration role often focused on teaching students discipline-specific knowledge and skills and basic academic success skills to help them succeed in their academic and professional careers.

The emergence of four distinct roles for teaching farms was a critical factor in the development and implementation of a project in which four institutions collaborated in the development of teaching materials for use on teaching farms. It immediately became apparent to the project team that no single set of materials could adequately serve the needs of all faculty members using teaching farms. Materials appropriate for a competency role would, for example, typically focus on lower level cognitive skill development than those for a foundation role. While the content would certainly overlap to some degree, the differences in the professor’s broad educational objectives could lead to different emphases in content or other teaching goal areas. The professor using the competency role would typically be more interested in presenting material constituting well known and broadly accepted concepts while a professor using an exploration role would be more likely to want a more comprehensive presentation of concepts, including concepts open to debate or yet to be broadly accepted by practitioners. Exercises for the competency role would focus more on development of basic operational skills while those for an exploration role would emphasize analyzing and solving problems that require intellectual skills like assessing scientific evidence. Of the four types, the enhancement role appears the most likely to be able to use a wide mix of materials because professors make infrequent use of the farms, do so for a variety of reasons, and do not rely on the farm as a key element in course design.