Water is a finite resource, necessary for sustaining all facets of life; however, it is often taken for granted. Recognizing a level of risk associated with a diminishing water supply, communicating with the public about their contributions to water issues so they will reduce unnecessary consumption is of utmost importance. This study used an…

Educators have a plethora of teaching methods that allow them to tailor the learning environment to meet students' needs. One novel instructional approach that has grown in popularity in U.S. higher education has been the flipped classroom approach, which has become a popular way to embrace a student-centered learning environment. Of the various…

Problem solving has been regarded as one of the most important cognitive skills in everyday life. The complexity of problem solving in technical areas is a critical component to developing the problem solving abilities of agricultural education students. This study grounded in Kirton's AdaptationInnovation Theory (A-I Theory), sought to identify…

Faculty at universities must prepare students to successfully enter the workforce. Preparing students requires effective teaching, but excellence in teaching is complex and can be difficult to achieve. To capitalize on excellent and effective teaching, a teaching philosophy is necessary to embody the teaching faculty members' personal philosophy…

The agriculture and natural resources (ANR) sectors are facing many complex and controversial issues today, including animal health, biotechnology, climate change, food safety, food security, invasive species, marketing and trade, and water. Undergraduate students, as the future ANR workforce, must use critical thinking skills to find solutions to…

Understanding the teaching and learning paradigm is a relentless search for educators. Because individual students bring their own learning style preferences to the learning environment, teachers are asked to consider and even adjust their teaching to these preferences to improve student learning. In Kolb's (1984) experiential learning theory,…

Career and technical education (CTE) courses, including agricultural education courses, are home to a disproportionately large number of students with learning disabilities. Agricultural education has been sought as a potential solution to teaching abstract STEM concepts through experiential learning methods. Abstract concepts are noted in the…

Over the last three years, agricultural educators have demonstrated a strong preference for the coaching role, as defined by the Kolb Educator Role Profile (KERP). The purpose of this collective case study was to better understand why this dominant coach preference exists in Oklahoma preservice agricultural educators. Kolb Educator Role Profile…

Student teaching as the culminating experience of a teacher preparation program has been shown to be of great importance in the preparation of pre-service agricultural educators (Harlin, Roberts, Mowen, Edgar, & Briers, 2007; Roberts, Mowen, Edgar, Harlin, & Briers, 2007; Kitchel & Torres, 2006, 2007; Myers & Dyer, 2004). Kolb's…

In order to address the complex challenges facing the agricultural and natural resource industry, extension educators must collaborate with opinion leaders. Extension educators can use the assistance of opinion leaders in program design and implementation in order to best meet the needs of stakeholders and the public. Collaboration between…

The purpose of this experimental study was to assess the effects of cognitive style, problem complexity, and hypothesis generation on the problem solving ability of school-based agricultural education students. Problem solving ability was defined as time to solution. Kirton's Adaption-Innovation Inventory was employed to assess students' cognitive…

In the past several years Cooperative Extension has focused on developing educational programs that address water conservation, specifically for individuals using exorbitant amounts of water, with limited success. However, few research studies have examined how the way people think, including their critical thinking styles, can be used to inform…

With an evolving and expanding agricultural industry, it is crucial to provide future professionals with valuable experiences and skills in problem solving, communication, and teamwork. Agricultural summer programs for secondary students, which provide cooperative learning experiences with a focus on group work and problem solving, aim to help…

Undergraduate epistemology typically transitions from an absolute perspective with a reliance on external knowledge authority to a more open epistemology that utilizes metacognition to evaluate knowledge claims. In the undergraduate agricultural classroom, student epistemic development, combined with deeply embedded agricultural beliefs and…

The integration of hard and soft skills has become increasingly important to employers. Colleges of agriculture and natural sciences can facilitate the development of these skills in their students. The purpose of this study was to explore impacts of a behavioral style learning unit on soft skill development with 15 students enrolled in a…