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Master's of Science in
Agricultural Education Degree

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"It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question."
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 The Master's of Science in Agricultural Education degree  is designed primarily for people who currently (or would like) to teach agriculture at the middle school, high school and/or post-secondary level. This program is also popular with individuals whom are thinking about pursuing a doctoral degree in the future. Student's gain an in depth knowledge of the context and content of school-based agricultural education. They also receive practical experience in conducting research.

This degree program is 36 semester hours in length. This program is designed to be completed on-campus. At least 27 of the hours must be completed on-campus.  The other 9 hours can be completed by distance education.

Upon completion of the program, the student will receive the Master's degree and can also apply for the Master's (M) teaching license from the state of North Carolina (one has to apply for the teaching license-it does not automatically happen).  It should be noted that one has to first have the initial teaching license (the "A") before  applying for the "M". If one does not have the "A" license it is possible to work on that license while in the graduate program. This is done by enrolling simultaneously in the NCSU LEAP program.

Students applying to this progam must take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE).

The requirements for the Master's of Science in Agricultural Education degree are:

1. Complete the six core required courses (18 hours)
  • AEE 501 Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education
  • AEE 505 Trends and Issues in Agricultural and Extension Education
  • AEE 526 Information Technologies in Agricultural and Extension Education
  • AEE 529 Curriculum Development in Agricultural and Extension Education (or AEE 595E Program Planning in Agricultural Education)
  • AEE 535 Teaching Agriculture in Public Schools
  • AEE 578 Scientific Inquiry in Agricultural and Extension Education
2. Complete 12 hours of subject matter courses

In order to qualify for the advanced (M) teaching license in North Carolina, one must complete 12 hours of course work that can be classified as subject matter or technical courses. The Department of Agricultural and Extension Education defines subject mattter courses to be those containing substantial content that could be taught to high school agricultural students. Therefore nearly any course taught in the traditional fields of agriculture such as Animal Science, Crop Science, Horticulture, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Entomology, Forestry, etc. fit this definition. There are some courses that are taught within the Department that also contain content that could be taught to high school agricultural students. The AEE courses that qualify as subject matter courses include:

  • AEE 503 Youth Organization Management
  • AEE 522 Experiential Learning in Agriculture
  • AEE 595 Teaching Biotechnology
  • AEE 530 Priority Management
  • AEE 507 Comparative Agricultural and Extension Education
  • AEE 560 Organizational and Administrative Leadership
  • AEE 595V Marketing
3. Complete and defend a thesis.

Students are to conduct original reseach on a problem of significance to the field of agricultural education. This will results in a thesis, which is typically a 50-150 page research report. Typically a thesis is divided into five chapters:
  • Introduction to the Study
  • Review of the Literature
  • Research Methodology
  • Research Findings
  • Conclusions and Recommendations
The student's advisory committee will provide guidance and direction to the study. At the conclusion of the research process, the student will present the results of their research to their graduate committee.

Some of the recent theses written in our department have focused on agricultural literacy of urban students, predictors of high quality FFA chapters, and the impact of block scheduling on agricultural education programs. The students often present the results of their research at regional and national meetings and publish their research in the leading professional journals. And our students have won more than their fair share of awards for outstanding graduate student research.

Students receive 6 hours of credit in AEE 695 Master's Thesis Research for their thesis. MS students will often choose to enroll in AEE 579 Research Design. This is an extemely useful course for students writing a thesis.

4. Prepare a teaching portolio

In order to qualify for the advanced (M) teaching license in North Carolina, one must prepare a teaching portfolio. This portfolio will be presented to the student's advisory committee during the thesis defense. More detail about this requirement can be found at http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/graede/portfolio.html.

If a student wants the content of this degree but does not desire teacher certification, the student's graduate commitee can approve appropriate modifications to the degree requirements.

While you will probably never need to know this--the Graduate School code for this degree program is ATE(MS).

A table comparing all five Master's degree programs offered by the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education can be found at http://www.ncsu.edu/cals/agexed/grad/masterschart.html.

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Department of Agricultural and Extension Education