Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Multistate Agricultural Literacy Research Committee (W2006) Meeting

May 15, 2017

Embassy Suites

San Luis Obispo, CA

Members Present:

Debra Spielmaker, Utah State University (co-chair)         debra.spielmaker@usu.edu
Michael Martin, Colorado State University (co-chair)      Michael.j.martin@colostate.edu
Kellie Enns, Colorado State University (vice chair)          kellie.enns@colostate.edu
Denise Stewardson, Utah State University (secretary)      denise.stewardson@usu.edu
Gaea Hock, Kansas State University                                ghock@ksu.edu
Monica Pastor, University of Arizona 

Guests Present:

M’Randa Sandlin, University of Hawaii                           msandlin@hawaii.edu
Michael Newman, Mississippi State University               men1@msstate.edu
Kimberly Bellah, Murray State University                        kbellah@murraystate.edu
Amelia Miller, Michigan Farm Bureau                             amille2@michfb.com
Rose Judd-Murray, Utah State University                        rose.juddmurray@usu.edu

 Members Absent:

Kathryn Stofer, University of Florida                               stofer@ufl.edu
Jennifer Melander, Nebraska Cooperative Extension        jmelander7@unl.edu
Ania Wieczorek, University of Hawaii                             ania@hawaii.edu
Cary Trexler, University of California, Davis                   cjtrexler@ucdavis.edu
Carl Igo, Montana State University                                   cigo@montana.edu
Robert Martin, Iowa State University                               drmartin@iastate.edu
Kerry Schwartz, University of Arizona                            kschwartz@ag.arizona.edu

 Mike Martin, committee co-chair, called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM and reviewed the meeting agenda. 

Members and guests of the committee introduced themselves. 

Motion by Kellie Enns to approve minutes of the September 19, 2016, meeting in Tucson, AZ; seconded by Mike Martin. Motion passed. 

Gaea Hock started the discussion regarding “marketing” of this committee’s research. Ideas included putting postcards in registration bags. Debra Spielmaker noted that the W2006 listserve is available, and the National Center for Agricultural Literacy (NCAL) wiki page is public. NCAL is now housed at Utah State University with Spielmaker administrating.

Martin asked for committee members’ updates regarding research and projects related to W2006. 

Debra Spielmaker

• Conducted farm field days needs assessment with graduate student
• Created KWL with students prior to field day experience
• Identified misconceptions and missed opportunities
• Conducting research related to STEM 4H Youth with graduate student. (Not a good agricultural literacy connection; therefore, not published with W2006.)

Mike Martin

• Serving as theme editor for upcoming issue of The Agricultural Education Magazine
• Working on a consumer study with Colorado Department of Agriculture
• When consumers start to feel distrustful of agricultural practices, their trust of all sources goes down with the exception of environmental organizations (confirmation bias)
• Study is conducted every 5 years
• Published conflicts in undergraduate classrooms: horticulture and organics students
• Conducting program review on barriers of school volunteers in metro area
• Working on questionnaire about adults’ conceptions of agriculture; studying values
• Using learning center at stock show to look at agricultural literacy in terms of design standpoint

Monica Pastor

• Working in Cooperative Extension: Rural leadership program
• Conducts annual summer agricultural institute
• Presents school gardens and safety resources: What do teachers see as issues?

Kimberly Bellah

• Teaches contemporary issues in agriculture; general education course (writing intensive)
• Students write issue briefs on topics they’ve researched
• Working with K-8 teachers using agriculture to teach across curriculum
• Presenting innovative poster: Agriculture dual-credit courses; use PALS to partner with teacher
• Working with Fall on the Farm through School of Agriculture; possible immersion study for students to follow teachers to discern what information teachers are sharing with students (what do teachers hear at FFD and how do they present it to their students)

Spielmaker invited and encouraged Bellah to join W2006 committee.

Rose Judd-Murray

• Working on PhD at Utah State University
• Building instrument to determine college freshmen’s literacy benchmarks; dissertation focused on agricultural literacy
• Working with Utah AITC to review elementary preservice students’ use of agricultural literacy resources. Will share with other state AITC programs for developing evaluation instruments.

Michael Newman

• Director of Human Science Literacy at Mississippi State
• Works with Farmtastic program
• Farm Bureau runs AITC program which needs curriculum update; graduate student working on this project

Gaea Hock

• Increasing water literacy in regards to agricultural use
• Has graduate student doing social engagement/public policy for youth water advocates conference—train youth to speak on water issues both residential and agricultural

Kelli Enns

• Interested in how researchers conduct pre- and post-tests for use in Ag Adventure experiences (farm field days)
• Collecting baseline agriculture knowledge and skills of College of Agriculture students (80% of students in CSU don’t come from traditional agriculture background)
• Coordinated and co-authored National Research Agenda, Priority One from W2006
• Administrators of Masters of Extension Education at CSU (master of agriculture—Plan C professional degree = 36 credits)

Amelia Miller

• Pursuing master’s degree from Utah State University (online)
• Works at Michigan Farm Bureau and AITC: Pilot phase with agricultural literacy mobile classroom; hired teacher to work in lab and teach lessons. Comparing educational methods (modality). Cost analysis = $150,000 original budget for trailer

Denise Stewardson

• Directs Utah AITC program
• Can provide populations for research
• Working with Spielmaker and Judd-Murray to evaluate rate of return on AITC program’s resources—time, effort, cost—in regards to preservice workshops

Martin: Funders are looking for impact data; can we identify different types of agricultural literacy models and the best methods for success?

What is the metric for measurement?

• Use NALOs as a benchmark
• Groups have own agendas and are looking for their specific commodity represented; this is a disconnect between commodities and agricultural literacy, in general

Hock: What are we evaluating, what data are we looking for?

Looking at W2006 objectives, committee hasn’t considered the groups, e.g., commodity groups that are being addressed.

Martin suggested taking information from W2006 agricultural literacy poster and writing journal article. It may become a review of literature piece:

• How do populations conceptualize agriculture?
• How do populations conceptualize agricultural education?

Committee and guests adjourned to small working groups to discuss future research projects and collaborate on working research manuscripts. Members also attended the SIG (special interest group) on agricultural literacy to continue their discussions.

Multistate Agricultural Literacy Research Committee (W2006) Meeting

September 25, 2017

Fort Collins Hilton

Fort Collins, Colorado

Members Present: 

Michael Martin, Colorado State University (chair)           Michael.j.martin@colostate.edu
Debra Spielmaker, Utah State University (co-chair)         debra.spielmaker@usu.edu
Denise Stewardson, Utah State University (secretary)      denise.stewardson@usu.edu
Gaea Hock, Kansas State University                                ghock@ksu.edu
Carl Igo, Montana State University                                   cigo@montana.edu
Matt Mars, University of Arizona                                     mmars@email.arizona.edu

Brian Warnick (AA), Utah State University                     brian.warnick@usu.edu 

Guests Present:

Rose Judd-Murray, Utah State University                        rose.juddmurray@usu.edu
Katie Hartmann, Colorado State University                      Katherine.hartmann@colustate.edu
James Christiansen, Texas A & M University                  j.christiansen@tamu.edu 

Members Absent:

Kellie Enns, Colorado State University                             kellie.enns@colostate.edu
Kathryn Stofer, University of Florida                               stofer@ufl.edu
Jennifer Melander, Nebraska Cooperative Extension        jmelander7@unl.edu
Ania Wieczorek, University of Hawaii                             ania@hawaii.edu
Cary Trexler, University of California, Davis                   cjtrexler@ucdavis.edu
Robert Martin, Iowa State University                               drmartin@iastate.edu
Kimberly Bellah, Murray State University                        kbellah@murraystate.edu
Cory Forbes, University of Nebraska—Lincoln               cory.forbes@unl.edu
Monica Pastor, University of Arizona                              mpastor@ag.arizona.edu
Jonathan Velez, Oregon State University                          jonathan.velez@oregonstate.edu 

Mike Martin, committee chair, called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM and reviewed the meeting agenda. 

Members and guests of the committee introduced themselves. 

Motion by Debra Spielmaker to approve minutes of the May 19, 2017, meeting in San Luis Obispo; seconded by Gaea Hock. Motion passed. 

Michael Martin set the context of this committee—its purpose, its background, the research of the members. Reviewed research objectives: 

Research Objective 1

Assess agricultural knowledge of diverse segments of the population:

• What are the points of acquisition of agricultural knowledge?
• What decisions are made based upon assessed knowledge? 

Research Objective 2

Assess attitudes and perceptions and motivations concerning agriculture of

diverse segments of the population:

• How are perceptions, attitudes, and motivations developed?
• What decisions are made based upon assessed attitudes, perceptions, and motivations? 

Research Objective 3:

Evaluate agricultural literacy to measure the program impact:

• What is effective programming?
• What is the impact of effective programming, both short-term and longitudinal?
• What knowledge, attitudes, motivations exist for individuals that participate in agricultural literacy initiatives? 

Many members recently submitted to The Agricultural Education Magazine, focused on agricultural literacy. 

Following are descriptions/explanations of members’ current research: 

Michael Martin

Perceptions of school garden volunteers

Perceptions of horticulture students in College of Agricultural Sciences

Students and their conceptualization of agriculture (values, ideology)

Critical pedagogy of agriculture (NACTA Journal)

Katie Hartmann

PhD student; working fulltime with agricultural education students

Critical pedagogy of agriculture

STEM integrations

Gaea Hock

Research focus on water issues—working with graduate student

Undergraduate is tracking knowledge of water and public speaking abilities

Carl Igo

Cultivating relationships with agricultural education teachers working on Native American reservations—knowledge and perceptions of secondary students (North Cheyenne and Crow reservations)

Objective 3: Reconnected with some of the teachers who participated in the earlier benchmark study (1997-1998). Hoping to contact former students—how has that study impacted them? Funding needed to further the study.

Spielmaker: Conducted a follow-up in 2001.

James Christensen

When working years ago in Arizona, Native Americans often ignored as populations. Hope that is no longer the case. Matt Mars offered: Atmosphere doesn’t seem to have changed, but focus has shifted towards food sovereignty—tying food into their culture. Other issues: water rights, sustainable agriculture

Martin: Working with Ute nation in food sovereignty, regulating hunting

Debra Spielmaker

Working with grade 12 population to develop benchmark for perceptions of students regarding agricultural literacy and the impacts of programs to determine the effectiveness of intervention.

Judd-Murray: Following model from Molly Brandt of University of Nebraska—Lincoln

Working with Dr. Max Longhurst—math methods professor at USU—to develop same instrument for K-5 population.

Warnick (Judd-Murray’s committee chair): Developing instrument and piloting with students at Utah State University

Mobile lab: Graduate student, Amelia Miller, assessing effectiveness of mobile labs using a pre-post design with grades 3-4.

Rose Judd-Murray

In addition to her aforementioned research, she is looking at innovative teaching strategies to engage students in discussions on agricultural issues.

Matt Mars

Working in research on local food systems (a sociologist by training). People come to local foods via many different “logics,” and he is looking at how those drivers are negotiated.

Articles published/submitted in following journals:

Agriculture and Human Values

Journal of Rural Sociology

Using Edible magazines to collect articles and look at discourse analysis (themes) 

Graduate student studied college student engagement in campus farmers markets. Looking at their assumptions and world views in making food choices. 

Brian Warnick

As administrator of the W2006 committee, an annual report must be filed within 30 days of this annual W2006 meeting. Individual members may need to report (additionally) to meet their university requirements. As a committee, we need to report accomplishments, impact statements, summary of minutes, etc. Martin requested copy of report template from Spielmaker. National Information Management and Support System (NIMMS) wants committee to translate research and outputs as impacts on objectives.

Martin requested an example of an impact statement to assist members in reporting; Spielmaker will add an example to the form and submit to Martin by October 1, 2017.

Denise Stewardson

Will use Spielmaker and Judd-Murray research to measure impact of state agricultural literacy program (in Utah—a university Extension program). Spielmaker: Goal is to encourage other state literacy programs to use similar instruments to evaluate programs.

Committee work updates:

Martin reported on committee project: Team of eight committee members worked on piece regarding the conceptualization of agricultural literacy. Included concepts of agricultural literacy, food justice, STEM, etc. and wrote abstract for AAAE regional meetings. Abstract was rejected; review committees suggested too much information was presented within one paper. Martin is revising the information presented in hopes of completing the project as a journal article.

Members suggested that committee publish to a broader audience outside agricultural education. Approach editors of appropriate journal for a special issue—perhaps a society-based publication. Examples: Journal of Human Science and Extension, Journal of North American College Teachers of Agriculture, International Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension

Igo reported on past study (1997-1998). Both teacher and student data were collected: teacher perceptions on incorporating agricultural concepts (K-8). Follow-up Pence study out of Oklahoma study looked at 6-8, 9-12; Utah did K-6 in 2001. Igo proposed to return to original schools and set up focus groups with students from study to ask about those programs’ impacts. Martin suggested Igo pilot a focus group in Montana and then ask other states that originally participated to replicate the evaluation. Spielmaker will look for research participants and work with Igo on establishing focus groups.

Martin: Need for evaluation of impact of agricultural literacy efforts—including Agriculture in the Classroom programs. For example, schools are conducting gardening projects with students; what are those impacts? Spielmaker—challenge is creating a valid survey instrument. Hock: Design a tip sheet/training for AITC coordinators and other resource providers to assist them in creating instruments relevant to their programs. Igo: Contact teachers who attended AITC inservice professional development workshops within the past five years; ask what resources they are using and how they are using them.

Martin: What would a tool chest for practitioners include for assistance in developing assessments? Spielmaker: Use of logic models, understanding of activities and outputs, writing survey questions, matching criterion to activities. Martin teaches Program Design and Evaluation: Students may be able to assist with instrument development. Martin will send course syllabus to Spielmaker.

Hock: Is there a funding agency to assist Igo with focus groups? Spielmaker: Look at K-12 SPECA grants.

 Annual elections were held for W2006 committee positions. Motion to approve slate of officers made by Spielmaker; seconded by Hock. 

• Michael Martin, chair
• Denise Stewardson, secretary
• Vice chair: vacant until needed
• Debra Spielmaker volunteered to manage listerv and update communication via Agricultural Literacy Wikipage.

Meeting adjourned at 11:20 AM.

During 2017 the W2006 met twice, the first meeting was in San Luis Obispo, CA, May 15^th-19^th, 2017 and the second meeting was in Fort Collins, CO, September 25^th – 27^th, 2017.  During these meetings the committee reviewed the accomplishments during the past year and discussed future research.  The group agreed to build upon a conference poster presentation that group had published in 2016 on differing conceptualizations of agriculture in agricultural literacy work (Objective 2).  The goal of this project is highlight the research impact of studies which focus on agricultural illiteracy but are not identified agricultural literacy (i.e., food literacy, gardening education, etc.).  The new project would build upon the work of the conference poster and expand the project into a full length journal article.  The project includes seven members of the committee and one researcher outside of the committee.

The W2006 committee members also discussed the next project which could be undertaken as a group.  The focus of the next project will be on evaluation of agricultural literacy (Objective 3).  The proposed projects would focus on impact of agricultural literacy programs either from a longevity perspective and/or what evaluation techniques are most appropriate for differing agricultural literacy programing.  These projects will be revisited by the committee in 2018. 

Finally, the members of the W2006 committee members contributed to the Agricultural Education Magazine’s theme issue on agricultural literacy.  The theme editor was Michael Martin from Colorado State University and the theme issues included six members of the W2006 committee.  The members shared their agricultural literacy impacts and accomplishments in the issue.  The theme issue will be published in late 2017.  The magazine has a wide circulation with agricultural educators. 

Gaea Hock of Kansas State University discussed the work of their Water education and advocacy conference in Kansas had 11 students attend in July 2017. They continue to document their work during this school year and had a booth at the Kansas State Fair. Data is currently being collected as to the number of presentations, their knowledge retention/growth, and their self-efficacy in relation to public speaking.

Objective 1 Outside funding was obtained to develop "common measure" instrumentation to measure agricultural literacy among elementary (K-5) and high school students (9-12) related to the National Agricultural Literacy Outcomes. The instruments will be pilot tested in February of 2018 and ready for distribution in June of 2018 for more wide-scale testing. These instruments will determine if benchmarks for agricultural literacy (outcomes) are being achieved by educators who incorporate agriculture into their curriculum. Objective 3 Foundational research was conducted to describe current efforts for evaluating mobile agricultural classrooms/labs. Commonly referred to as "mobile ag labs" where agricultural lessons are brought to schools and engage students in a novel mobile facilities as an alternative modality for increasing agricultural literacy. The findings from this survey research will be used in a larger research project to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile ag lab in Michigan to determine the efficacy of mobile labs to impact agricultural literacy.

Water education and advocacy conference in Kansas.  The conference had 11 students attend in July 2017.  They continue to document their work during this school year and had a booth at the Kansas State Fair. Data is currently being collected as to the number of presentations, their knowledge retention/growth, and their self-efficacy in relation to public speaking.

Debra Spielmaker reported on the work being done at Utah State University.  Funding was obtained to develop "common measure" instrumentation to measure agricultural literacy among elementary (K-5) and high school students (9-12) related to the National Agricultural Literacy Outcomes (related to Objective 1).  The instruments will be pilot tested in February of 2018 and ready for distribution in June of 2018 for more wide-scale testing.  These instruments will determine if benchmarks for agricultural literacy (outcomes) are being achieved by educators who incorporate agriculture into their curriculum.  Foundational research was conducted to describe current efforts for evaluating mobile agricultural classrooms/labs (related to Objective 3). Commonly referred to as "mobile ag labs" where agricultural lessons are brought to schools and engage students in a novel mobile facilities as an alternative modality for increasing agricultural literacy. The findings from this survey research will be used in a larger research project to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile agricultural laboratory in Michigan to determine the efficacy of mobile labs to impact agricultural literacy.

Michael Martin of Colorado State University provided an update of the agricultural literacy work in Colorado.  A research team had finished a state-wide study of consumer perceptions and attitudes towards agriculture.  This project was funded by the Colorado Department of Agriculture.  The research was shared with state stakeholders at the annual Governor’s Forum on Agriculture and published in series of fact sheets through Colorado State University Extension.  Michael also discussed how the agricultural literacy research from Colorado State University is being used to design and implement trainings and interventions in Colorado.  These programs include curriculum for agricultural educators and workshops to a wide variety of agricultural stakeholders in Colorado.  

Research Objective 1

Assess agricultural knowledge of diverse segments of the population:

• What are the points of acquisition of agricultural knowledge?
• What decisions are made based upon assessed knowledge?

Wray, P. (2017). Evaluating the effectiveness of Utah farm field days (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://library.usu.edu/etd/. (Major Professor, Debra Spielmaker, W2006)

Judd-Murray, R., & Spielmaker, D. M. (2017). Evaluating the effectiveness of an agricultural literacy preservice teacher workshop. Poster session presented at the Western Region Conference of the American Association for Agricultural Education, Fort Collins, CO.

Research Objective 2:

Maritn, M. J., Chriestenson, C., Thilmany, D., Jablonksi, B., and Sullins, M. (2017). Examining Coloradoans perception of trust in sources of information on agriculture and food quality, nutrition, and safety issues. Food systems report, FSR 17-02.

Sullins, M., Thilmany, D., Chriestenson, C., Martin, M., & Jablonski, B. (2017). Coloradans’ perceptions about land and water resources for agriculture. Food systems report, FSR 17-03.  

Thilmany, D., Chriestenson, C., Martin M. J., Sullins, M., & Jablonksi, B. (2017).  An overview of Coloradan’s perceptions of agriculture. Food systems report, FSR 17-01.

Chriestenson, C., Martin M. J., Thilmany, D., Sullins, M., & Jablonksi, B. (2017). Public attitudes about agriculture in Colorado. A study by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Retrieved from https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/2016%20Public%20Attitudes%20Report%20Final.pdf

Martin, M. J., & Enns, K. J. (2017). The conflicts of agriculture: Exploring the agriculture values of university agricultural education students. Journal of Agricultural Education, 58(1), 210-255. Retrieved from https://doi:10.5032/jae.2017.01210

Stofer, K. A., & Newberry, III, M. G. (2017). When defining agriculture and science, explicit is not a bad word. Journal of Agricultural Education, 58(1), 131-150. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2017.01131

Research Objective 3:

Evaluate agricultural literacy to measure the program impact:

• What is effective programming?
• What is the impact of effective programming, both short-term and longitudinal?
• What knowledge, attitudes, motivations exist for individuals that participate in agricultural literacy initiatives?

Phillips, C.K., Mars, M.M., Rice, A.H., & Torres, R.M. (2017, September). How do college students learn about food systems? Presentation at the Western Region of the American Association of Agricultural Education, Ft. Collins, CO.