AEE 322 - Class 6

Learning Activities:

These actvities should be completed before class for on-campus students as this provides a foundation for the class discussion.

For distance education students, these activities constitute the lesson. Pay special attention to the PowerPoint Presentation.

	Class 6: The Analytical SAE
Objectives: Upon completion of this lesson you should be able to:	Describe what is meant by analytical SAE Identify potential analytical SAE activities Properly keep records on analytical SAE activities Identify FFA activities and events that relate to the analytical SAE
Learning Activities: These actvities should be completed before class for on-campus students as this provides a foundation for the class discussion. For distance education students, these activities constitute the lesson. Pay special attention to the PowerPoint Presentation.	Take the Analytical SAE pretest to see how much you know. about Analytical SAEs and FFA activities that relate to them. Read the Information sheet on Analytical SAE. View or download the PowerPoint presentation on Analtyical SAE Programs. Read Barry Croom's article about "Non-Occupational Supervised Experience." from the 1991 (Dec.) issue of The Agricultural Education Magazine. The American Farm Bureau site has background information about a number of issues and trends affecting agriculture. This is a good resource for students conducting analytical SAE programs. The Farm Journal and Progressive Farmer are also good sources of current information for those analytical SAE programs. Get the latest agricultural news from Southern States Farmers First page. You can also check the weather and markets. In case your students need agricultural statistics for an analytical SAE, they might want to consult the latest agricultural census. Read the ERIC Digest article by Sandra Kerka on Higher Order Thinking Skills in Vocational Education. Analytical SAEs are designed to enhance higher order thinking skills. The National FFA has recently developed several programs that relate to analytical SAE projects. You should help your students become aware of the opportunities they have as a result of their analytical SAE program. A description of the following activities can be found in the CDE handbook. Agricultural Issues Forum Marketing Plan Environmental/Natural Resources CDE Agricultural Communications In addition, you can find more info about the H. O. Sargent Award as it relates to analytical SAEs. Be sure to check out the Award Criteria.
Laboratory: For students who are taking the class live on campus, there is a one and half hour lab. This activity will be done during the lab. For distance education students, the lab will be described and the student will be responsible for performing the activity.	Introduction: HOTS! This acronym has been in wide use in educational circles for the past several years. Can you guess what it stands for? It stands for Higher Order Thinking Skills. There is a major emphasis in education to get our students to take their thinking to the next level. We want to produce students who are capable of problem solving and thinking on a more conceptual level. Education, as a whole, has been criticized for producing students who are incapable of thinking. The reason we have developed a category of SAE in North Carolina titled "Analytical" is to address the above mentioned concerns. Analytical is a research based SAE but is does not involve a carefully formulated experiment. There are a variety of problems in our communities and in agriculture that need attention that are not ameniable to experimentation. In the lab today, you will work on planning and conducting an analytical SAE. In teams of 2-3, you will plan an analytical (non-experimental) SAE activity. You will then perform the necessary tasks to implement the plan. The end product will be the development of a PowerPoint presentation, a video, a web site, or a poster display about the activity. Some possible topics to be considered are Genetically Modified Organisms, Water Quality, Free Trade Agreements, etc. What you develop will be presented to the class on Nov. 6. Distance education students will do the exact same thing. In conducting an analytical SAE program, you are limited only by your imagination.
Assignments	There are a number of FFA sponsored activites that inerface with analytical SAE programs. Most teachers in North Carolina are not aware of these opportunities for their students. Go on a scavenger hunt of the FFA web site and answer the questions on worksheet 6. This is due next week.


	AEE 322 Experiential Learning in Agriculture