This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and perception of rural and urban inner-city students in two Midwestern states regarding agriculture, food, and natural resources. Since this study was a pilot project, these two subgroups of the United States population were assessed to provide baseline data reflecting the knowledge and perceptions of United States residents regarding agriculture and the food industry. Data were collected from 1121 respondents but did not constitute a representative sample of students in the two Midwestern states. However, the results of this study may have implications for other groups on a practical basis. Three objectives were specified for this study as follows: 1) to assess the level of agricultural knowledge among rural and urban inner-city high school students in a midwest; 2) to assess the level of agricultural perceptions among rural and urban inner-city high school students in the midwest; and, 3) to compare the level of agricultural knowledge and perception of both subgroups. Both groups of respondents were most knowledgeable about Natural Resources concepts whereas the Rural Students were least knowledgeable about the Plants in Agriculture concept area compared to the Urban Inner-City High School Student respondents who were least knowledgeable about the Policy concept area. Overall, respondents had the most positive perception about the Natural Resources concept area and were the least positive about the Agricultural Policy concept area.

This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and perception of rural and urban adults in a midwestern state regarding agriculture, food, and natural resources. Since this study was a pilot project, these two subgroups of the United States population were assessed to provide baseline data reflecting the knowledge and perceptions of United States residents regarding agriculture and the food industry. Data were collected from 886 respondents but did not constitute a representative sample of all United States citizens. However, the results of this study may have implications for other groups on a practical basis. Three objectives were specified for this study as follows: 1) To assess the level of agricultural knowledge among rural and urban adults in a midwestern state; 2) To assess the level of agricultural perceptions among rural and urban adults in a midwestern state; 3) To describe the demographic variables of both subgroups that may influence their knowledge or perceptions of agriculture. Both groups of adult respondents were most knowledgeable about the Animals concept and least knowledgeable about the Plants in Agriculture concept. Respondents were most positive about the Natural Resources concept and were the least positive about the Agricultural Policy concept. However, rural adults were also very positive about the Animals concept. Respondents living on farms were more knowledgeable about agriculture than their rural non-farm neighbors, who were more knowledgeable than their urban counterparts. Respondents with high levels of education were more knowledgeable about agriculture than those with less education.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the professional experiences of agricultural education teacher candidates during their internship, their sense of teacher self-efficacy, and their perceptions of their preparation. The population included the entire cohort (n=24) of teacher candidates during the 2007 fall quarter at The Ohio State University. Teacher self-efficacy was measured using the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Candidates reported high levels of teacher self-efficacy at the end of the experience. The candidates' perception of their level of preparation was similar to their sense of teacher self-efficacy. The largest discrepancy score was for the student engagement domain. Professional development experiences categorized as vicarious experiences revealed the strongest overall relationship with teacher self-efficacy. The experience of observing a first-year agriculture teacher had the strongest positive relationship with overall teacher selfefficacy. This variable explained 11 percent of the variance in overall teacher self-efficacy, and 14 percent of the variance in the instructional strategies domain. Verbal feedback that candidates received from their cooperating teacher was positively related to teacher self-efficacy. The number of courses teacher candidates taught was negatively related to their sense of efficacy in the classroom management domain.

The purpose of this study was to assess secondary educators' knowledge of and attitude toward agriculture. The population consisted of teachers and administrators in 245 secondary schools in Missouri that offered an Agricultural Education program as part of the curriculum. The sample consisted of 200 randomly selected schools and a cohort group of educators representing: administrators, agriculture teachers, language arts teachers, mathematics teachers, science teachers, and social science teachers. Data collection instruments included 35 items to assess respondents' knowledge of agriculture and 35 items to assess their attitude toward agriculture. Usable responses were collected from 616 educators representing 146 schools. Data analysis revealed that agriculture teachers were the most knowledgeable and had the most positive attitude toward agriculture. Language arts and mathematics teachers were the least knowledgeable and had the least positive attitude toward agriculture. However, each of the educator groups surveyed were judged to be knowledgeable of and had a positive attitude toward the industry of agriculture. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that pre-service and in-service programs be conducted to promote strategies to integrate agricultural concepts and illustrations into other courses in the secondary school curriculum. Agriculture has always been very important in Protection Agency "many fine, conscientious the United States. United States agriculture has fed, government employees were writing regulations for clothed, and provided building materials for millions farmers while they themselves did not understand of Americans and many residents of other countries. agriculture." Although America also has the lowest per capita food cost of any country in the world; much of the According to the National Research Council general public is unaware of where and how their (1988), the consuming public lacks an food was produced (National Research Council, understanding of the importance of agricultural 1988). With each passing generation, this country policies including price supports, conservation has become one step further removed from direct programs, and export programs that affect the ties to production agriculture (Flood & Elliot, supply and cost of agricultural products. One factor 1994). This sociological shift has resulted in a that contributes to the lack of understanding is that modification of the policies which affect agriculture. agriculture has not been included as part of the total Furthermore, there has been increased interest in educational experience. The National Research developing policies related to the environment and Council (1988) reported that agriculture was not resource use (e.g. land, water, fertilizer, fossil fuels, taught in elementary schools and has been etc.) that may be detrimental to agriculture and food segregated into vocational agriculture courses at the production in the future (Brown & Kane, 1994; secondary level. Caulder (1991) also reported that ...