Although many colleges of agriculture have experienced an increase in student enrollment over the past decade, fewer students maintain their agricultural focus through successful placement in an agriculturally based scientific position upon graduation (Dyer et al., 1996; NRC, 2009). This multistate research project aims to revitalize interest in agriculture as a career path and ensure secondary school students have the requisite competencies to succeed in college and careers. The result will be an abundant supply of well-educated workers in STEM careers that require agricultural knowledge and technical skills.

A shortage of scientists for agricultural positions exists throughout the country (NRC, 2009). The current demand for STEM-capable workforce surpasses the available supply of qualified candidates (NRC, 2011). Employment data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Opportunities for College Graduates in Food, Agriculture, Renewable Resources and the Environment (FANRE) projected a 39% deficit in the number of FANRE graduates to the demand for degrees in these areas for 2020-2025 (Fernandez et al., 2020). The deficit continued from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA), formally the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), 2005-2010, 2010-2015, and 2015-2020 reports (CSRESS, 2005; NIFA, 2010; Goecker et al., 2015). Additionally, the 2020 USDA report indicated that 29% of all job openings in the agricultural industry require scientific and engineering expertise, an increase from the previous five-year report (Goecker et al., 2015; Fernandez et al., 2020). These projections have come to fruition as leading agriculture-based corporations indicate they cannot find suitable graduates with an agricultural background and scientific expertise. Industries seeking skilled workers for scientific agriculturally-based positions have been presented with application pools that contain a bi-polar skillset; approximately 39% of applicants have been graduates with “allied degrees” from programs such as “biological sciences, engineering, health sciences, business, communication, etc.” (pp. 7), while 61% of the applicants had degrees in agriculture (Fernandez et al., 2020).

Compounding the issue of recruiting and preparing qualified graduates to enter careers in agricultural sciences is the increasing demand for workers with scientific expertise in numerous career areas (NRC, 2009). Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations are critical to the continued economic competitiveness of the United States, with employers indicating a need for employees with knowledge of agriculture, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving skills across the STEM disciplines (Carnevale et al., 2011; NRC, 2009). The demand for a STEM-capable workforce has continued to grow (CADRE, 2014; NASEC, 2020). The increasing demand for STEM talent allows for and encourages the disbursement of students and workers with STEM competencies across various career paths. Some workers will voluntarily be diverted to other career areas, some may be diverted to other areas involuntarily (by not meeting expectations), and some will continue their education in a STEM field. However, those career paths are not easily predicted; therefore, it is paramount for STEM-related programs to be on the cutting edge to prepare students with the technical skills and knowledge needed to perform. The entire education system, K-12 and beyond, plays an essential role in encouraging and preparing students for careers in FANRE (NRC, 2009).

Opportunities for educators and industry leaders to expose potential employees to the benefits of and skills used in various agricultural careers are tremendous and occur across a broad timeline, both before and after entering the adult workforce. To increase the number of students transitioning into post-secondary education and employment, many secondary schools focus on career exploration and preparation, often mimicking colleges and universities by requiring students to choose a career pathway or major through 16 career clusters (Brand, 2013). Career and Technical Education (CTE), including agricultural education, focuses heavily on career exploration to help students better understand the knowledge and skills expected of specific careers (DeLuca et al., 2006). Students in CTE courses engage in academic, technical, and employability skills simultaneously, which better prepares the students to enter careers and post-secondary education (Brand, 2013).

Although no direct link has been established to connect successful secondary experiences in agricultural education seamlessly throughout the human capital pipeline to successful employment in STEM-based agriculture careers, K-12 teachers play an essential role in their students' success in school, as well as lifelong outcomes such as college attendance and lifetime earning potential (NASEM, 2020). Additionally, in 2015, 16% of 15-year-olds indicated they intended to have a career in a STEM field. These students were also noted to have higher academic success, specifically related to their achievement scores, than their peers who did not intend to pursue a STEM career (Institute of Education Sciences, 2020). Further studies have shown that "students' course taking during high school plays a critical role in their ability to transition to post-secondary education and pursue a range of post-secondary majors and degree options" (Laird et al., 2006, p. 1). Dyer et al. (1996) found that while the percentage of University of Illinois College of Agriculture first-year students with secondary-level agricultural education was declining, the percentage of students intending to graduate with a major in agriculture was much higher among students with secondary agricultural education experience than among those with no previous agricultural education background.

Further, Dyer et al. (2002) found enrollment in a high school agricultural education program to be one of the most influential factors in whether students completed a degree in a college of agriculture. Enrollment in agriculture courses at the secondary level has also demonstrated a statistically significant correlation with more positive perceptions of agriculture (Smith, 2010). Motivation to learn science in agriculture has also been noted to have a statistically significant and positive correlation to students' academic achievement (Chumbley et al., 2015). However, greater effort is needed to increase the number of high school agricultural education students who pursue higher-level agricultural careers through post-secondary education; one study found these students lacked understanding regarding the importance of post-secondary education for careers in agriculture (Smith, 2010). A growing body of literature supporting exposure to high-level careers in agriculture before college to increase the number of graduates skilled in agricultural sciences has led authors of the National Research Council (2009) to recommend "colleges and universities…reach out to elementary-school and secondary-school students and teachers to expose students to agricultural topics and generate interest in agricultural careers" (p. 9), explicitly suggesting partnerships with secondary agricultural education programs.

The issues of recruitment and preparation for careers in agricultural sciences overlap. Thus, the goals of this project are: 1) to create awareness and interest at the middle and high school levels for careers in the agricultural sciences, 2) to prepare students for academic success and professional pursuits, leading to a sustainable supply of well-educated agricultural scientists, 3) to prepare and empower agricultural educators to effectively teach rigorous STEM content within the school-based agricultural education curriculum. 

Within agricultural education, few studies have recently examined effective teaching practices regarding the emphasis of STEM content naturally embedded in the agriculture curriculum (Thoron & Myers, 2011; Thoron & Burleson, 2014). Further research is critical for scholars to explore current teaching practices implemented by exemplary agriscience instructors. Further, exploration of innovative approaches for teaching STEM within agriculture curriculum in various environments, including rural and urban schools, is necessary. Research has indicated three levels and six features of integrated STEM education, but these elements have yet to be conceptualized as to how they are related to the teaching practices in school-based agricultural education, as well as to critical elements of the STEM learning process (Wang & Knobloch, 2018; NRC, 2013). Research of the topics mentioned above will inform a conceptual model of teaching STEM in agriculture, which can be leveraged to support agriculture learning and career preparation among a broader population of students.

Guidance on how STEM education should be designed was outlined in the publication A Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2012). Science education should be built around three key dimensions in which a limited number of ideas are presented throughout the entirety of the K-12 education to allow for more student exploration and deeper understanding (NRC, 2012). All three dimensions, science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas, actively integrate the four STEM areas in unison, creating one body of knowledge in which students continually build on their foundational knowledge (NRC, 2012). Any model for secondary school agriscience programs that emphasize STEM content must consider the NGSS framework and the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1998; 2000). Scherer et al. (2019) recommended that researchers expand STEM education to a universal study of all components rather than separate individual concepts in each content area. With the importance of preparing teachers to emphasize the STEM concepts in agriculture within a curriculum, it is essential to understand what the practices entail. To be effective, teachers, who are often underprepared in STEM areas, need content knowledge and expertise in teaching (NRC, 2011). Teachers have noted that specific content knowledge is the most significant barrier to the integration of STEM into the agriculture curricula, even as their content knowledge has been shown to improve student outcomes (Myers & Washburn, 2008; NRC, 2013; Stubbs & Myers, 2015; Thompson & Warnick, 2007; Thoron & Myers, 2010). Ferand et al. (2020) recommended that teacher educators consider creating professional development experiences for agriscience teachers that target content to impact teacher self-efficacy positively. Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin (2011) speculated that "teachers learn by doing, reading, and reflecting (just as students do)" (p.83). However, a gap in the literature exists on current evidence regarding the effective teaching of STEM in agriculture.

Crawford (2000) conducted a case study of one high school biology teacher in the Pacific Northwest. This teacher had been noted for his outstanding use of inquiry-based learning when designing lesson plans. The research aimed to gain qualitative data that described what made this teacher's lessons exemplary. The results identified six teacher characteristics that allowed for the successful use of inquiry-based instruction. Those six characteristics were: (1) situating the instruction in authentic problems, (2) grappling with data, (3) fostering collaboration between teachers and students, (4) connecting the students with their community through the lesson, (5) teacher modeling the behaviors of a good scientist, and (6) fostering student ownership in the project and the results.

In agricultural education, Myers and Thompson (2009) conducted a study to determine what teachers needed to emphasize STEM concepts in their classrooms successfully. The responses of the National Agriscience Teacher Ambassador Academy participants were categorized as the following: (1) curriculum, (2) professional development, (3) teacher preparation programs, (4) philosophical shift, and (5) collaboration. Teachers in the study desired an agriculture curriculum written to be aligned with state and national science and math standards and a national database of lesson plans containing explicit emphasis of STEM concepts made available to teachers. Teachers also desired continuing instruction on highlighting science and math principles found in the agriculture program. The teachers in the study believed preservice teachers should be required to take coursework at their university to strengthen their knowledge of such a curriculum. The teachers also reported desiring a shift in philosophy regarding agricultural education. Teachers in the study believed that transforming the view of agricultural education would help teachers of all disciplines understand the role agriculture can take in increasing student achievement. The teachers also valued collaboration and believed team-teaching across disciplines would help to reinforce the importance of agricultural education and make agricultural educators a more valuable part of the education community (Myers & Thompson, 2009).

Wang and Knobloch (2018) developed a rubric that identified levels of STEM integration for lesson plans in agriculture. Although the lessons in the study focused on AFNR content and skills, in addition to attempts to have students solve real-world problems to connect learning, educators struggled to connect the multiple disciplines of STEM as one body in their lessons (Wang & Knobloch, 2018). The authors recommend more research into specific strategies of effective teaching such as focusing, framing, and scaffolding real-world problems in SBAE to better facilitate integrated STEM learning. Additionally, it was recommended that both rubrics and observations of teachers implement STEM integrated lessons, along with student data, to triangulate better results on the effectiveness of STEM teaching (Wang & Knobloch, 2018).

Despite this progress, the profession needs a model of effective practices that emphasize STEM concepts to prepare a future of agricultural scientists who are highly trained. If the profession is to develop a curriculum framework and further prepare agricultural education teachers to highlight STEM principles in agriculture explicitly, the current teaching practices that are most effective for accomplishing this goal in secondary school agricultural education need to be identified. As previously stated, a gap in the literature in this research focus currently exists.

The Concerns-Based Adoption Model, a research-based model, was designed to help facilitate change and provide diagnostic means of measuring implementation of an innovation (Hall & Hord, 2006) and provides a framework to guide this project. The model consists of the environment, the user system culture, resource system, change facilitator team, interventions, users and nonusers, and three diagnostic measures: stages of concern, levels of use, and innovation configurations (Hall & Hord, 2006). Hall and Hord (1987) defined an intervention as “any action or event that influences the individuals involved or expected to be involved in the process” (p. 143). Interventions can range from training workshops to short conversations about the innovation called one-legged interviews (Hall & Hord, 2006).

Advantages of a Multistate Effort

This project is significant to the national agricultural education research agenda (Roberts et al., 2016) that called for enhanced program delivery models and an abundance of highly qualified agricultural educators. The research agenda set forth by the USDA-NIFA complements the National Research Agenda for the American Association for Agricultural Education (Roberts et al., 2016) by providing a priority area of creating the next generation of scientists. Previously the project has enabled researchers from multiple institutions to meet regularly to pursue research activities that contribute to the project's goal and objectives. A continuation of the project will enable researchers to build these collaborative relationships, as additional experts continue to join the project each year. Advantages of the multistate effort include an effective forum for building collaboration among agricultural teacher educators and scientists. The effort expands the ability to investigate school-based agricultural education programs in rural and urban centers and across economic, demographic, and commodity areas. Collaborative approaches help formulate more robust solutions when compared to a single state or single researcher effort. Collaboration in a multistate effort has and can continue to streamline and focus research in agriscience/STEM education to enhance teacher effectiveness. A multistate collaborative project can be a catalyst for longitudinal data and replication of studies across the United States. Previous attempts at collaborative research have shown that without a multistate effort, a proposed research focus can be challenging to manage and produces a greater burden on the faculty involved, thereby reducing their ability to enhance the project's impact.

Likely Impacts from Successful Completion

The successful completion of this research project previously yielded several impacts crucial to the continued success of agricultural education and the industries for which graduates are prepared to enter. One example of this impact stems from the completed work to align the National AFNR standards with the Next Generation Science Standards. This work has provided the foundation for many agricultural education programs to highlight and improve how their curriculum meets science and engineering learning outcomes, increasing the rigor and relevance of agricultural education nationwide. As we look to future work, successful completion will empower agricultural educators with an increased awareness of the practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas included in the agriscience program. Modified curricula will accompany an increased awareness to guide secondary agriscience teachers in highlighting  STEM concepts and ideas through articulated competencies defined once the innovation configuration map is completed and disseminated. By providing teachers and administrators with education and guidance in highlighting STEM competencies in agriculture, the teachers will be more effective, agriscience programs will be of higher quality, and the components leading to high-quality programs will be clarified for use across the nation. These outcomes are particularly salient for newly developed agricultural education programs (and new teachers within established programs) seeking an empirically grounded framework for teaching STEM concepts within classroom/laboratory instruction, Supervised Agricultural Experiences, and student engagement in the National FFA Organization. Finally, as students are exposed to STEM concepts in high-quality agriscience programs led by prepared, effective teachers, their interest and engagement in agriculture-related STEM careers will increase. The end result contributes to an abundant supply of an educated workforce in agricultural careers that require knowledge and technical skills in STEM fields.

Technical Feasibility

All institutions involved have adequate resources to complete the project, such as appropriate research lab and office facilities, computer equipment and relevant software, high-speed internet access, and labor pool.