Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
Integrating issues related to agriculture and environment (AE) in the curriculum of elementary school provide real life learning experiences to students and form a positive attitude in respect to AE. Elementary teachers' decision and readiness to teach non-required topics like AE are influenced by their personal attitude and ministry of education policy. The purpose of this descriptive- correlational study was to investigate effective factors on the teachers' attitude toward integrating AE in the curriculum. The statistical population consists all 4359 elementary teachers in Zanjan city which 343 of them were selected based on Krejcie and Morgan sampling table and applying randomized stratified sampling method. The validity of research tool was verified by a panel of related experts. A pilot study was conducted and calculated ordinal coefficient theta was at the appropriate level (equals with 0.75). The finding revealed that 78.4% of respondents had a positive attitude toward integrating AE in the curriculum. There were no meaningful correlation between teachers' attitude with their age, education attained, and total teaching experience. But, there was a positive correlation between teachers' attitude and their teaching experience in rural area. Mann-Whitney test applied revealed that teachers with agricultural work experience hold more positive attitude in comparison with teachers of nonagricultural work experience. Also male teachers hold a more positive attitude in comparison with female teachers. Logistic regression revealed that three variables of age, having previous agriculture work experience and teaching experience in the rural area explained 30.8 percent of probability of teachers’ attitude
Keywords
- زمانی،غ.(1387). ضرورت و سابقه تدریس کشاورزی در دبستان، مجموعه مقالات نوآوری در برنامه درسی دوره ابتدایی. دانشگاه شیراز.
- شمس،ع،. محمدیان، ف. و هوشمندان مقدم فرد، ز. (1390). بررسی راهکارهای گنجاندن آموزش کشاورزی در برنامههای مدارس ابتدایی از دیدگاه آموزگاران آموزش و پرورش شهر تهران. اولین کنگره ملی علوم و فناوری‌های نوین کشاورزی. دانشگاه زنجان
- مطهری‌فر، ح.(1393). آموزش کشاورزی در مدارس ابتدایی راهکاری برای توسعه پایدار. ماهنامه دام و کشت و صنعت. شماره173.
- موحد محمدی، ح. (1382). آموزش کشاورزی. تهران: انتشارات مؤسسه توسعه روستایی.
- Akgul, H., and Macaroglu, E. (2011). Agrıcultural awareness for prospectıve teachers. Scientific Research and Essays, 6(16), 3371-3377.
- Anderson, S. M. (2011). Elementary and secondary teacher’s use of agriculture as a context for teaching: A concern based approach.Ph.D Dissertation, Oregon State University, Retrieved Retrieved December 15, 2015, from: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/23742/AndersonShawnM2012.pdf?sequence=1
- Bellah, K. A., and Dyer, J. E. (2009). Attitudes and Stages of Concern of Elementary Teachers toward Agriculture as a Context for Teaching across Grade Level Content Area Standards. Journal of Agricultural Education, 50(2), 12-26.
- Bellah, K., and Dyer, J. (2009). Attitudes and stages of concern of elementary teachers toward agriculture as a context for teaching across grade level content area standards. Journal of Agricultural Education, 50(2), 12-25.
- Bradley, J. C., Waliczek, T. M., and Zajicek, J. M. (1999). Relationship between environmental knowledge and environmental attitude of high school students. The Journal of Environmental Education, 30 (3), 17-21
- Chung Ko, A. C., and Kin Lee, J. C. (2003). Teachers perceptions of teaching environmental issues within the science curriculum: A Hong Kong perspective. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 12 (3), 187-20
- Chung, N. (2012). Assessment of agricultural literacy and attitude toward agriculture among school teachers in Young-Nam area. 농업교육과 인적자원개발,, 44(2), 1-24.
- Cronin‐Jones, L. L. (2000). The effectiveness of schoolyards as sites for elementary science instruction. School Science and Mathematics, 100(4), 203-211.
- Frohlich, G., Goldschmidt, M., and Bogner, F.X. (2013).The effect of age on students’ conceptions of agriculture. Studies in Agricultural Economics, 115(2), 61-67. http://dx.doi.org/10.7896/j.1301
- Hendy, M. (2010). Do We Need Agricultural Literacy for Elementary Science Teachers? Why and How?. In SMEC 12–conference proceedings 2010 Apr 10 (p. 81).Retrieved December 15, 2015, from:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.359.4970&rep=rep1&t
- Kim, C., and Fortner, R.W. (2006). Issue-spesific barriers to addressing environmental issues in the classroom: An explanatory study. The Journal of Environmental Education, 37 (3), 15-22
- Knobloch, N. A., and Ball, A.l. (2003). An examination of elementary teachers’ and agricultural literacy coordinators’ beliefs related to the integration of agriculture. Illinois State Board of Education and the Facilitating Coordination in Agricultural Education. Retrieved January 14, 2015, from www.agriculturaleducation.org.
- Knobloch, N., and Martin, R.A. (2010). Relationships of Elementary Teachers’ Perceptions and Activities Conducted Regarding the Integration of Agricultural Awareness Activities into the Curriculum. Proceedings of the 27th Annual National Agricultural Education Research Conference, 207-220. The Ohio State University. Iowa State University
- Knobloch, N.A., and Martin, R.A. (2000). Agricultural awareness activities and their integration into the curriculum as perceived by elementary teachers. Journal of Agricultural Education, 41(4), 15-26.
- Knobloch, N.A., Ball, A.L. and Allen, C.A. (2007). The benefits of teaching and learning about agriculture in elementary and junior high schools. Journal of Agricultural Education 48 (3),25–36.
- Kucelin, A. (2011). Teacher Practices, Attitudes, and Perceptions about the Decatur Farm to School Program. MSc. Thesis, Georgia State University. Retrieved January 14, 2015, from: http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/nutrition_theses/11
- Lockwood, J. A. (1999). Agriculture and biodiversity: finding our place in this world. Agriculture and Human Values, 16(4), 365-379.
- Sadik, F., & Sadik, S. (2014). A study on environmental knowledge and attitudes of teacher candidates, P r o c e d i a - S o c i a l a n d B e h a v i o r a l S c i e n c e s 1 1 6: 2 3 7 9 - 2 3 8 5
- Saucier, P.R., and Krysher, S. (2014). Selected Factors Influencing Missouri School-Based Agricultural Educators To Instruct Agricultural Mechanics Curriculum. Journal of Agricultural Systems, Technology and Management, 25, 1-11.
- Townsend, J. (1990). Pre-secondary agricultural education. The Agricultural Education Magazine, 63(1), 6.
- Trexler, C. J., and Meischen, D. (2002). A Qualitative Study of Prospective Elementary Teachers' Grasp of Agricultural and Science Educational Benchmarks for Agricultural Technology. Journal of Agricultural Education, 43(2), 68-81.
- Trexler, C. J., Johnson, T., and Heinze, K. (2000). Elementary and middle school teacher ideas about the agri-food system and their evaluation of agri-system stakeholders’ suggestions for education. Journal of Agricultural Education, 41(1), 30-38.
- Vallera, L.F., and Bodzin, A. M. (2014). Knowledge, Skills, or Attitudes/Beliefs: The Context of Agricultural Literacy in Upper-Elementary Science Curricula, agriculture in science curricula, Lehigh University, Retrieved December 15, 2015, from http://www.lehigh.edu/~fav203/NARST2014_flv.pdf
- Wright, D., Stewart, B.R. and Birkenholz, R.J. (1994). Agricultural awareness of eleventh grade students in rural schools. Journal of Agricultural Education. 35: 55-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.5032/ jae.1994.04055
)