Agricultural Mechanics in SBAE Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Agricultural mechanics has been a mainstay and a highly sought-after content area in school-based agricultural education (SBAE) programs across the nation because it allows the opportunity for students to receive hands-on instruction. Agricultural education teachers are tasked with knowing a plethora of agricultural content, but the area that concerns the most teachers is agricultural mechanics. It can be daunting for a pre-service teacher to learn how to operate numerous machines and hold diversified skills in laboratories before being able to teach secondary students how to use them safely. Another substantial concern is maintaining student safety, and teachers may not feel confident in their ability to teach agricultural mechanics content while providing a safe environment. Research has shown a need for improving agricultural mechanics instruction for pre-service teachers and professional development for in-service SBAE teachers to help increase teacher competence and self-efficacy to teach agricultural mechanics.