Update on Directed STEM Lessons for Developing Student Interest in Agriculture: A Work in Progress

Agricultural & Biological Engineering faculty have been concerned for several years regarding the lack of interest in high school students in good-paying technology-oriented careers in agriculture and have developed some academic modules to hopefully stimulate some interest in these areas. Through a USDA-NIFA grant, the authors have developed three secondary level curricular programs designed to provide an overview of the modern technical elements of the agricultural industry. Classroom activities for five weeks of daily one hour contact time were developed for an introduction to aerial drones, vehicle balance, and robotics with agriculture. These modules were designed for testing in a local high school agriculture classroom. Bloom's taxonomy was used as a framework, inspiration, and guide to develop the modules as a best curricular practice aligned with recruiting. This paper will present multiple examples of lesson components and how they fit into the remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create framework. The planned implementation schedule and the difficulties encountered thus far will be described, and the details of the overall program assessment will be provided.