The student profile in Colleges of Agriculture throughout the nation has shifted from dominantly rural, farm background to an urban background within the past 15 years. Most instructors have been reared in a farm environment and assume that the urban reared students have some knowledge of basic agricultural terminology. This situation can place the urban student at a disadvantage. A study of students in two introductory courses was undertaken to assess the influence of background on recognition of basic agronomic specimens in slide form. Students from a rural, farm background had the greatest percentage recognition of all items. Rural, non-farm students usually had the second highest score in plant specimen categories, whereas urban, farm backgrounds usually were second in machinery oriented specimens. Urban, non-farm students usually scored the lowest of all groups. Freshmen tended to score slightly higher than other classes because more freshmen had farm backgrounds. Males responded correctly more frequently than females, but this statistic is difficult to interpret since a greater porportion of the female population was from a non-farm background. Students with farm backgrounds, regardless of urban or rural upbringing, tended to more frequently identify agronomic items than students of other backgrounds. Teaching strategies to attempt to overcome this background difference are discussed.Additional index words: Non-farm background, Farm background, Disadvantaged student.
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