Secondary agriculture teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and, teaching practices of climate change

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Global climate change (GCC) impacts agriculture through food production. Promoting the understanding about GCC among agricultural educators is imperative. While substantive research exists for the knowledge, conceptions, and beliefs of science teachers, few studies focus on agriculture educators. This research investigates the foundational state of secondary agricultural teachers’ knowledge, practices, and beliefs about GCC.

Design/methodology/approach: In this quantitative study, we used a 22-item survey to capture secondary agriculture teachers’ conceptions, beliefs, and practices about GCC. Total 258 secondary agriculture teachers from fourteen states completed the survey. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Findings: Overall, secondary agriculture teachers have a strong understanding about the basic science concepts that constitute the understanding for GCC. However, they are challenged in understanding data that forms the evidence for GCC, and whether this phenomenon is anthropogenic or natural, or both. Their teaching practices about addressing the content of GCC are diverse from spending a dedicated amount of time to none at all in their classrooms.

Practical implications: Information acquired will be used to support the agricultural educators needs for resources specifically designed and aligned for the GCC content relevant to agriculture.

Theoretical implications: This research informs the field of climate literacy and education through contributing an empirical assessment of one of the underserved population groups – teachers of agricultural education.

Originality/value: Very few empirical studies were available for teachers of agriculture, hence this study served as an exploratory foundational work towards future research efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• secondary agriculture teachers
• knowledge and beliefs
• teaching practices

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Acknowledgement

We thank our colleagues from Iowa State University, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, South Dakota State University, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Virginia Tech University, and West Virginia University who greatly assisted the research, although they may not agree with all of the interpretations of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Hui-Hui Wang is an assistant professor, who has a joined appointment in both Department of Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication and Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Purdue University. Her current research focuses on investigating and building a sustainable and interdisciplinary STEM through Agriculture, Food and Nature Resources teaching and learning model for K-12 educators and students.

Devarati Bhattacharya is a K-16 STEM education research fellow in School of Natural Resource, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her current research is oriented towards designing professional development workshops that increases the expertise and confidence of teachers in teaching Global Climate Change issues from both local and regional perspectives.

Bryanna J. Nelson currently is a graduate student in Department of Agricultural Science Education and Communication, Purdue University. Her current research interests focus on investigating problem-based, inquiry-based, and integrated STEM teaching and learning in school-based agricultural education.

ORCID

Hui-Hui Wang http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6244-8252