ERIC Number: EJ1138821
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1042-0541
EISSN: N/A
When Defining Agriculture and Science, Explicit Is Not a Bad Word
Stofer, Kathryn A.; Newberry, Milton G., III
Journal of Agricultural Education, v58 n1 p131-150 2017
"Agriscience" is an emerging field at the intersection of recently separate fields of "agriculture" and "science." For meaningful communication with and engagement of public audiences around agriscience, researchers, educators, and the public must have a consensus definition. We used personal meaning mapping to collect public audience understandings of the individual terms agriculture and science to find spontaneous overlap. We qualitatively coded them and compared them to each other. Very few participants explicitly included "agriculture" on science maps and vice versa. However, many maps included terms that related to the other topic; for example, on agriculture maps, many participants included "biology." Agriculture maps used more terms related to tangible products, while science maps contained more terms related to intangible results and specific disciplinary areas. We found some overlap of categories with both sets of standards but in differing amounts, reflecting the career emphasis of agricultural programs. The lack of consensus definitions of agriculture and science confound our efforts to support both public engagement with agriscience and literacy efforts in both science education and agricultural education. This research could form the basis for larger, broader quantitative public surveys and comparisons across geographic areas.
Descriptors: Agricultural Education, Comparative Analysis, Agriculture, Scientific Literacy, Science Education, Scientific Research, Qualitative Research
American Association for Agricultural Education. P.O. Box 7607, Department of Agricultural and Extension Education, Raleigh, NC 27695. Web site: http://www.aaaeonline.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1003957