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Understanding job satisfaction, stress, and burnout within agricultural education has the potential to impact the profession's future. Studying these factors through the theoretical lens of social comparison takes a cultural approach by investigating how agriculture teachers interact with and compare themselves to others. The purpose of this study was to determine if relationships existed between social comparison and job satisfaction and/or burnout among secondary agriculture teachers representing six states. Findings indicated that teachers were satisfied with their jobs and tended to engage most frequently in upward assimilative (UA) comparisons, leading to inspiration emotional outcomes. According to the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Educators (MBI-E), teachers experienced low levels of burnout related to personal accomplishment (PA) and depersonalization (DE), and moderate levels related to emotional exhaustion (EE). Seven moderate relationships were found between dimensions of social comparison and either burnout and/or job satisfaction.

Experiential learning can be an important part of an undergraduate curriculum in the sciences. A new course, The Nature of Plants, was developed to provide students across a broad range of majors with an in-depth study of plant science both basic and applied. The course was enriched by using a local natural area as an informal learning environment. We examined whether experiential learning improved homework scores among students who participated in a field trip by asking if simply attending the field trip increased the homework score or if participation in the tree climbing exercise had any additional benefit. Our results show participating in a field trip experience when coupled with a homework assignment increased student homework scores. Moreover, the tree climbing portion of the field trip increased homework scores particularly for students not in a science major. This research supports experiential learning and the value of field trips within science courses focused on a comprehensive exploration of plants.

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Reality television has taken America by storm with programming ranging from extreme stunts to police adventures to spoofs on segments of society. Agriculture has been a participant in the reality television boom through a series called "The Simple Life" in which two Hollywood debutantes explore the "realities" of farm life in Arkansas. This study examines the impact of this portrayal of agriculture and its effects on viewers' impressions of the industry. Four focus groups were used to investigate the potential effects of an agriculturally based reality television show on viewers' attitudes, opinions, and perceptions of agriculture. Results indicated those with agricultural knowledge viewed the portrayal of farm life as inaccurate and disturbing, while those without agricultural literacy found the program entertaining, if not exactly "real." Those viewers lacking in agricultural literacy realized that the program did not accurately portray real agricultural life, but could not discern where the program failed in its accurate representation. Viewers with agricultural backgrounds found the series did not accurately reflect the amount of labor and intellectual capacity needed to produce food and fiber. The portrayal of agriculture as "hickish" and "backwoodsy" reinforced traditional stereotypes. This study suggests that the agricultural industry may be well served in further exploration of the impact of broadcast entertainment programming on the public's agricultural literacy.