AEE 522 - Class 5

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 5: The Experimental SAE
Objectives: Upon completion of this lesson you should be able to:	Identify and describe what is meant by an Experimental SAE Identify potential Experimental SAE projects Identify national FFA programs that recognize students with experimental SAE programs. Become familiar with the application forms and guidebooks that pertain to Experimental SAE programs. Complete the section of the NCSU SAE record book related to Experimental 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 Experimental SAE pretest to see how much you know. about Experimental SAEs. View the slide presentation "Research-based SAE Programs" or download it. Read "Supervised Agricultural Experimentation" by Harper, Joe & Atherton in the June 1993, Volume 65 issue of The Agricultural Education Magazine. Read Glen Miller's "Using Experiments to Teach Agriscience" from The Agricultural Education Magazine (April 1996). "Read James Speiss' article" Using Experimentation As Experiential Learning" in The Agricultural Education Magazine. The National FFA has several programs to recognize students with experimental and agriscience SAE projects. Following these two links to learn more about these opportunities for your students. http://www.ffa.org/programs/ag_sci/index.html http://www.ffa.org/programs/star/index.html The Wisconsin Fast Plants can be used in experimental SAE programs. If you are not familiar with them, you need to be. IF you have a copy of the FFA video "Create a Reaction" please review it. This is a short video available from the National FFA that is shown to high school students. The message is it is cool to do agriscience projects. Visit the following web sites to learn more about Experimental SAE's. The Department of Agricultural and Extension Education at the University of Arkansas has a unique Agriscience Project. This Penn State site has good information on how to conduct the scientific investigation. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has a unique site. It is called Planet Ag. Be and sure to check out the secton on the Scientific Process. Frank Potter's Science Gems has a wealth of information. It is a virtual warehouse of sites related to the sciences
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: When agricultural education was first implemented in the public schools, the majority of the students lived in the country or on a farm. Even in cities, there were gardens, chicken houses, etc. It was relatively easy to have a SAE. But times have changed. The majority of the students in our classes now live in urban or suburban areas and it is difficult to have livestock or crop SAEs. And what we teach in agriculture has also changed. The curriculum is much more scientific. Therefore it would be logical to have a category of SAE that focuses more on science. That is why the Experimental SAE was developed. There is no reason why every student in an agricultural education class could not have an experimental (or analytical--more next week) SAE. The National FFA has implemented a number of recognition programs to recognize students who have science based SAE programs. These include the Agrsicence Fair, Agriscience Student recognition program, and Star in Agriscience. These programs need much more participation. As a beginnning teacher, you could make a name for yourself by having students concentrate in these areas. You will develop a lesson plan and teaching materials for Experimental SAEs. You can focus on the FFA Agriscience Fair or wherever your area of interest leads you. Along with your lesson plan, create an instructional aid (PowerPoint) to assist in conveying this concept. In conducting Agriscience SAE programs, you are limited only by your imagination.
Assignments:	Go on a scavenger hunt of the FFA web site and answer the questions on worksheet 5. This is due next week. This is to be submitted in WebCT Vista.