The objectives of this investigation were to synthesize research related to participation in supervised agricultural experience (SAE) programs and to identify areas of deficiency in SAE-related research. Findings showed that research in this area was primarily descriptive, survey, and nonprogrammatic. They revealed that SAE programs lacked definition, focus, and direction. No empirical studies were found to suggest that SAE programs were educationally beneficial, warranting student participation. Teacher attitudes and expectations strongly influence SAE participation. While teachers claim to support the concept of SAE, many fail to implement the programs fully, resulting in decreased participation by students. Participation varies widely by state, is demographically dependent, and is lacking by all parties. Future research in this area should be directed toward determining the empirical value of SAEs, their purpose and design, contributing factors to participation variance, factors which aid and/or limit participation, methods to create interest in SAEs, benefits for higher-achievers, factors which influence teachers to support SAEs, the role of record keeping, and type of SAE programs which would appeal to urban and suburban students.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes and intentions of University of Illinois College of Agriculture freshmen toward high school and university agriculture programs and the field of agriculture in an effort to better identify, recruit, and retain students in the College. Results indicated that a majority of freshmen students were female, Caucasian, had no background in agriculture, and viewed agriculture as being both scientific and technical. Students also believed high school agriculture to be good preparation for college. Whereas attitudes were generally positive, only about 60% of the freshmen class intended to graduate with a major in the College of Agriculture. However, of the students who had completed some high school agriculture, approximately 95% intended to graduate with a major in the College. That percentage increased to nearly 98% if the student had been an FFA member. Also, 86% of students who had been members of 4-H indicated they intended to graduate with majors in the College of Agriculture. Freshmen who completed high school agriculture programs indicated more positive attitudes toward university agriculture programs, high school agriculture programs, and agriculture as a career than did students with no high school agriculture experience.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the problem solving approach to the subject matter approach in teaching given units of instructions to students of varying learning styles. Results indicated that three distinct learning styles were present in high school agriculture classes (fieldindependent, field-dependent, field-neutral). The majority of students was field-independent. As the treatment, neither the problem solving nor subject matter approach produced significantly higher achievement scores in classes taught by the respective approach. Likewise, the learning style of the student did not result in significantly higher scores. However, when teaching approach was analyzed across learning styles, field-neutral learners were found to score significantly higher on achievement tests when taught in classes using the problem solving approach.

The purpose of this study was to describe the attitudes of Illinois secondary agriscience students and their parents toward the agricultural industry and educational programs in agriculture. Students were sampled based upon enrollment in science applications in agriculture courses. A corresponding number of parents was also selected (one parent per student).Results indicated that approximately 90% of both students and parents perceived the science applications in agriculture courses to be of 'Excellent" or "Good" quality. Both students andparents reportedpositive attitudes toward agriculture as a career field and toward agricultural technologies. Each expressed views classified as "uncertain " toward educationalprograms in agriculture, although each rated high school agriculture and science programs as high in quality. Students enrolled in BSAA/PSAA courses (and their parents) expressed more positive attitudes toward each of the constructs than did students and parents from the general population. Likewise, students ' attitudes toward agriculture as a career field agricultural technologies, and educational programs in agriculture were more positive if they rated the quality of the science applications in agriculture courses high. Whereas students expressed positive attitudes toward careers in agriculture, parents were reluctant to recommend those careers.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the problem solving approach to the subject matter approach in producing increased problem solving ability in students of varying learning styles. Results indicated that the majority of males were field-independent learners, whereas slightly less than half of the female students were field-independent (48.8%). Results also indicated that students in classes taught by the problem solving approach produced significantly higher problem solving ability test scores than did students in classes taught by the subject matter approach. When teaching approach was analyzed across learning styles, field-independent learners taught by the problem solving approach exhibited significantly higher scores between pretests and posttests. No differences were found between the pretest and posttest scores of either field-dependent or field-neutral learners. Also, no differences across learning styles for the subject matter approach groups were detected.