Background: Teachers' beliefs play an important role in how teachers think about how students learn, and how content should be organized and taught. Integrated STEM is pushing the boundaries of some of the traditional assumptions in education-disciplined-based courses, courses taught independently by teachers, standards and content-driven, and no collaborative planning time for teachers. Six teachers, located in two high schools, participated in a year-long program to develop interdisciplinary collaboration to implement integrated STEM learning in their courses. A qualitative instrumental case study of the two teams of teachers was conducted to gain insights and understandings of the teachers' beliefs and instructional practices of STEM integration through interdisciplinary approaches in a complex system (i.e., hydroponics). Results: Themes regarding features, beliefs and practices, and challenges emerged from cross-case analysis of the teachers' stories, which resulted in two interdisciplinary collaboration models, multi-classroom and extracurricular activity, from each of the teams at each of the two high schools. Multi-classroom and extracurricular activity models had some resemblances, but also had differences. Both cases had the same goals to use real-world problems to help students see STEM connections, learn STEM knowledge and skills, and apply STEM knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems. Conclusions: Based on teachers' beliefs and their interdisciplinary STEM collaboration practices, three components were identified. Team size, teaching goal, and collaboration structure highly affect a successful interdisciplinary STEM collaboration model in high school settings. The study also contributes to expend the concept of a continuum of STEM approaches to curriculum integration, disciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary (Vasquez, Sneider, & Comer, STEM lesson essentials: Integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, 2013), and provides frameworks for structuring a successful interdisciplinary collaboration model in high school settings.

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A review of literature was conducted on farm and ranch population estimates, the prevalence of disability in that group, and the effect of disease and injury on that disability rate. Methods used by various entities (primarily governmental) to estimate the population and disability prevalence among farmers, ranchers, family members, and other agricultural workers are summarized. A systematic methodology was developed to combine results from the most recent surveys and censuses and was used to make best estimates of the agricultural population impacted by disability. The findings show that estimates of the disability population in the farm, ranch, and agricultural labor sector, ranges from 1.04 million to 2.23 million individuals depending upon which surveys and censuses are used. Primary reasons identified for the inability to provide a more precise population size include lack of consistent survey methodologies and definitions. A strong argument can be made for additional efforts to determine a more accurate value for the number of individuals in the farm and ranch population who would benefit from disability services, as well as a more accurate estimate of the total population directly involved in agricultural production. Without such data, calculation of more reliable exposure levels to injury and disability is not possible.

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The written certification exam that accompanies the Gearing Up for Safety-Agricultural Production Safety Training for Youth curriculum was designed to partially meet the testing requirements of the Agricultural Hazardous Occupations Order (AgHOs) Certification Training Program. This curriculum and accompanying assessment tools are available for national implementation. Psychometric properties of the exam were examined based on a sample of highschool agricultural education students, who were consistent with the population of youth for which the AgHOs were designed to protect from certain workplace hazards. The analyses included evaluation of score reliability (i.e., internal consistency) and the theoretical structure of the exam via confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability estimates were satisfactory. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the preferred theoretical model had adequate fit. Implications and future directions are discussed. .

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Purdue University is conducting research to evaluate the effectiveness of an interactive CD-ROM and Internet-based curriculum teaching teenaged youth critical production agricultural safety and health-related information required under the Federal Hazardous Occupations Order. Selected community-based teaching strategies were evaluated and compared for their effectiveness in developing knowledge, changing attitudes and behaviors and improving practices related to the safe operation of agricultural tractors and machinery. This paper summarizes the methodology and outcomes of research conducted to identify and validate the core safety-related competencies upon which the curriculum was based. A preliminary set of competencies was developed using mandated training requirements, past curriculums, and recent youth-related injury data.An expert panel representing various stakeholders independently ranked the preliminary set of competencies and identified additional desired competencies for youth performing farm-related tasks. A sample of high school agricultural educators and youth further reviewed the competencies confirming their significance. The findings showed a high level of consistency between the expert panel, high school agricultural educators and the youth concerning inclusion of the identified competencies into the new curriculum. A set of 170 knowledge and skills-based competencies categorized into 12 units resulted, along with a set of questions designed to assess learner mastery of the competencies.