Within K-12 education there are a vast number of pedagogical approaches that utilize “places”. These approaches are typically lumped together with a catch-all term of “place-based education”. This creates confusion as not all approaches that use place should be identified as place-based education. The purpose of this paper is to establish clarity of the definitions for place-based education in the field. We adapted three examples from Edupotia, a public educational website, all titled “place-based education”, and analyzed them through the lens of the following educational philosophies: essentialism, progressivism, and social reconstructionism. The goal of this paper is to reduce confusion in the literature and strengthen the use of place-based education as it benefits both students and the surrounding community. By clearly defining place-based education, the pedagogy can be implemented and studied using a succinct set of parameters, creating cohesion in the field. Additionally, the strengthening and adoption of a universal definition aids in teacher professional development and education by reducing barriers to entry that result from discipline-specific training.

The content and career cluster of agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) provides opportunities for K-12 teachers to engage students to solve complex authentic problems that blend science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), yet limited research has been conducted on how to effectively leverage teaching and learning to integrate STEM using the context of AFNR through the school-based agricultural education program. This conceptual paper was developed through a collaborative sensemaking process focused on systems thinking as a way of knowing to integrate STEM within the contexts of AFNR, utilizing the SBAE program in the United States. A comprehensive career and technical education (CTE) program model of SBAE develops secondary education students’ career readiness skills through classroom and laboratory instruction, leadership development, and supervised agricultural experiences. The literature was reviewed to describe the current status of integrated STEM in SBAE, including learning by doing, solving real-world problems, application of content knowledge in out-of-school and community-based settings, learner-centered pedagogies, and development of career readiness skills for the workforce. By employing systems thinking as the theoretical framework and integrated STEM as a conceptual framework, the authors engaged in collaborative sensemaking of their professional and scholarly experiences and proposed findings and discussion of a three-model framework (i.e., teacher, program, and learning approach) to support integrated STEM education through AFNR and SBAE. Limitations of the framework are also discussed. The AFNR career cluster was used as the context to discuss how the three-model framework (i.e., teacher, program, and learning approach) of integrated STEM through AFNR could be operationalized for SBAE. Discussion and implications of the three-model framework for other career clusters in career and technical education (CTE) and non-formal education in community settings are presented. Conclusions and recommendations are provided for advancing STEM integration in SBAE for teacher development, program development, and research.

This narrative inquiry explores the journey of an urban agriculture teacher and how his experiences informed his professional identity while developing an Ag+STEM career pathway in a STEM-focused urban high school. Drawing on two semi-structured interviews, we tell Dylan’s story– how he cultivated his identity as a School-Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) teacher by focusing on: (1) why he chose to integrate agriculture and STEM, and (2) how he navigated the intersections of his Ag+STEM vision, the challenges he faced, and the instructional strategies he implemented in his classroom. Dylan’s story serves as a microcosm of the experiences of many SBAE teachers striving to establish STEM-focused agricultural programs in urban high schools. His journey offers valuable insights into the development of professional identity as an urban agriculture teacher and the advancement of agriculture and STEM education in urban high schools.

Agricultural extension services are crucial in enhancing farmer education, increasing agricultural productivity, and promoting sustainable farming practices worldwide. This concept paper examines the agricultural extension models in the United States, Rwanda, and Nigeria, focusing on capacity building, technology integration, and educator preparation. The US model, rooted in the cooperative extension system, integrates land-grant universities, advanced digital tools, and structured educator training. Rwanda’s Twigire Muhinzi model emphasizes community-led extension, leveraging farmer promoters and information and communication technology (ICT) driven advisory services. Nigeria’s extension system adopts a public-private partnership approach, incorporating ICT tools, decentralized extension services, and farmer support schemes such as the growth enhancement support scheme. The study identifies common themes and challenges across the three systems, including scalability issues, regional disparities, funding constraints, and the digital divide. Findings suggest that no single extension model is universally applicable; rather, successful systems must be context-specific, participatory, technology-driven and adaptable to meet the needs of their stakeholders. The study recommends cross-country collaboration, enhanced digital literacy, and policy alignment to improve extension effectiveness. By integrating best practices from each system, agricultural extension services can be more inclusive, responsive, and sustainable, ultimately strengthening global food security and rural livelihoods.

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education reform movement has swept across the USA due to an urgent need for more workplace-ready STEM employees. As a result of the STEM education reform movement, there has been an increase in research studies concerned with STEM education and STEM career development in the past decade. The purpose of the study is to analyze the past 10 years’ worth of empirical research to explore the key instructional designs (e.g., inquiry-based, project-based, and problem-based teaching) that are used in STEM integration, as well as the impact on students’ occupational interests and development. The results of the study (1) outline the included studies’ characteristics, (2) summarize and synthesize themes across included studies, and (3) provide implications for future research in pursuit of advancing students’ STEM career development through instructional design. Findings show that substantial progress has been made in designing integrated, student-centred learning experiences that are rooted in real-world contexts. However, findings also illuminate areas of potential growth, such as research design, where employing diverse methods could further enhance our understanding of how using different instructional designs and principles of integrated STEM can positively impact student STEM career aspirations.

The researchers of this qualitative case study explored an interdisciplinary collaboration in STEM integration through the lens of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). We examined a co-teaching integrated STEM model of a biology teacher and a family consumer sciences (FCS) teacher who collectively taught 38 students in an urban secondary high school in the United States. We aimed to answer, “in what ways did the biology teacher and FCS teacher demonstrated their PCK in integrated STEM to teach energy through food systems?” The results showed energy was not the centerpiece in the integrated STEM lessons that teachers developed even though the overarching problem focused on food waste as wasted energy. The two teachers’ different disciplinary thinking and professional identities informed their pedagogical knowledge. In addition, when teachers developed integrated STEM lessons, their knowledge of students’ preconceptions was not positioned to emphasize students’ learning difficulties related to certain concepts, but helped them identify what students needed most in their daily learning. The teachers taught within their disciplinary knowledge and experiences when they designed integrated STEM instruction. Teachers may change their PCK by working collaboratively with teachers from other disciplines, but this may take multiple successions and years for teachers to understand and develop their collaborative PCK.

High school students need to be prepared to enter the workforce and solve real-world problems including food and energy sustainability. Real-world problems require students to apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills and transfer their learning across disciplines. Presented as a grand challenge to students, the food system project utilized an integrated STEM approach complemented by a systems thinking approach that challenged students to analyze relationships with a holistic perspective. This quantitative descriptive study described the perceptions, experiences, and career interests of high school students who completed a food system STEM project. The students self-reported they were interested in the project, they applied scientific reasoning to solve the problem, and they collaborated with peers to apply STEM concepts. Students also reported the project helped them learn more about STEM careers and students reported higher interest in career fields such as science, technology / engineering, the agricultural industry, food industry, and natural resources industry after completing the food system STEM project. Food system integrated STEM projects can be a tool to engage students to solve complex problems and build interest in STEM careers.

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR) provides authentic and relevant context for applying STEM concepts to solve real-world challenges. Land-grant institutions have the expertise, mission, and infrastructure to make connections with K-12 teachers and students locally and support the integration of AFNR in STEM teaching. This study leveraged existing capacities of the land-grant system to develop a localized education partnership within the tripartite mission of teaching, research, and extension. An exploratory descriptive research described high school teachers’ perceptions and experiences within the partnership when we implemented the LOCAL STEM Model that led to teachers’ experience at a local research station and conducting a STEM-AFNR project with their students. The professional development workshop prepared teachers to work across disciplines and use the hydroponics topic to teach their classes. They collaborated internally during the professional learning community and were supported by partners from the land-grant university. Regarding the showcase event, teachers discussed students’ career exposure, career readiness skills, real-world experiences, and the pedagogical values of the event. For the overall experience, teachers discussed their professional growth, teaching ideas, farm-based experience, how they expanded and connected to resources, and how they engaged others in the project. This study described how the model can serve as a transferable example to help local high schools contextualize STEM using AFNR context with support from local partners at a local research station, Extension, and industries. Our findings have practical implications for program developers in terms of teacher development; student engagement; the model implementation; and future partnerships.

The agricultural, food, and natural resources (AFNR) system provides a rich context for solving complex and authentic problems. Agricultural educators have been teaching science, technology, and mathematics for many decades. Yet, the integrated STEM approach is an emergent pedagogy to intentionally teach academics in the context of AFNR. The authors argue that school-based agricultural education (SBAE) plays a unique and important role in serving as an integrator for STEM. AFNR can drive integrated STEM. The authors introduce the history of STEM and how it evolved in SBAE. They provide a rationale why integrated STEM should be taught in AFNR and SBAE and how epistemological thinking in AFNR provides a unique and complementary approach to solving complex problems using STEM. Integrated STEM in AFNR is defined and with characteristics. A review of research studies is summarized, and the authors propose a research agenda for future studies. This chapter on integrated STEM in AFNR has raised more questions, philosophically, conceptually, pedagogically, and empirically, which they hope launches scholarly discussions.

Understanding educator's beliefs is the first step and at the heart of effective educational practices of STEM integration. In this article, we synthesized current related literature to provide a new definition of STEM integration that has a broader and development approach to integrated STEM learning. We also shared examples of different levels of integrated STEM learning and how teachers' beliefs and practices STEM integration support the role of disciplinary ways of thinking. At the end of the article, we emphasized the importance of ways of thinking and identified challenges teachers need to navigate when using integrated STEM teaching and learning.

The purpose of this paper is to establish clarity of the definitions in the field by analyzing three cases of place-based education through the lens of the following educational philosophies: essentialism, progressivism, and social reconstructionism. The goal of this paper is to create a distinct definition between place-based education and other models to reduce confusion in the literature and strengthen the use of place-based education as it benefits both students and the surrounding community. By clearly defining place-based education from other models, the pedagogy can be implemented and studied using a succinct set of parameters, creating cohesion in the field. Additionally, the strengthening and adoption of a universal definition aids in teacher professional development and education by reducing barriers to entry that result from discipline-specific training.

Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) was first offered in 2007 with two foundational courses built on inquiry-based learning. Ten courses are now offered, each requiring intensive training and teacher development for effective use. Guided by National Science Education standards and a constructivist learning theory framework, the study used online survey research methods to explore teachers’ perceptions of and practices associated with inquiry-based teaching and learning when using CASE curriculum. A survey link was distributed in September 2018 to teachers certified in an introductory CASE course (Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources) and a higher-level, more inquiry-based CASE course (Food Science and Safety) for comparison. The online questionnaire was completed by 392 participants for a usable response rate of 32%. Major findings in the study included (1) participants in both groups have an understanding of open inquiry but struggled in identifying structured and guided inquiry; (2) participants over-estimated the amount of open inquiry in the curriculum; and (3) participants showed mixed interpretations of inquiry-based and problem-based instruction among both groups. Participant ratings of the CASE curriculum were generally favorable, although results showed that teachers frequently remove or skip lessons and teach courses in a semester or quarter format, contrary to CASE recommendations. Findings are discussed in the context of improved training and other recommendations to help teachers use the curriculum in its intended manner and to get the most benefit from its use.

4-H and Extension educators who work with youth are uniquely positioned to help them meaningfully learn about global climate change (GCC) in a way that connects to their everyday lives and interests. Yet we don’t have a baseline understanding of these educators’ knowledge of GCC or how they teach about it. This paper presents brief findings of a study intended to fill that gap in knowledge. Educators from six states responded to an online survey in 2020. GCC knowledge varied by topic and by educator instructional focus, with STEM and Civic Engagement educators scoring highest. Questions about greenhouse gasses and long-term air temperature changes had the lowest number of correct answers. Responses to open ended questions in the survey indicated a moderate number of educators believed that GCC is anthropogenic. Most educators avoided teaching about GCC or touched on it briefly. Those that did teach about GCC indicated their main motivation is that such instruction benefits youth, followed by care for the earth. Recommendations for professional development, such as making opportunities contextualized to the instructional focus and the geographic location are shared.

In the K-12 settings, teachers are encouraged to teach STEM subjects using a more integrated approach, and not be treated as stand-alone disciplines. STEM integration represents a way to think about curriculum change. It is a concept of how to restructure what is taught and what students learn. The nature of STEM disciplines no doubt creates certain challenges for STEM teachers. Despite researchers having made extensive progress in understanding of STEM integrative approaches, there are considerable barriers that relate to revolution of curriculum, assessment, and teaching practices in the K-12 STEM education system. For example, tools for assessing integrated STEM instruction have been developed, yet there has been limited implementation or adoption of teacher assessment for integrated STEM instruction. The purpose of this action research study was to understand how the preservice educators interpreted the language in the integrated STEM through AFNR rubric that was developed in 2018 (Wang & Knobloch, 2018). Four themes emerged when examining how preservice educators interpreted and applied the rubric for integrated STEM education: (1) Prejudgments based on prior knowledge and experiences, or course expectations informed interpretation of levels of STEM integration; (2) limited to no teaching experience resulted in novice interpretation of the integrated STEM lessons; (3) level one (Exploring) was a clean cut, but gray areas existed in interpreting levels two (Developing) and three (Advancing); and, (4) the rubric was a tool that helped preservice educators reflect on the purpose of teaching certain content/concepts. Preservice educators also gave recommendations to improve the rubric. Additionally, they recommended more scaffolding, examples, expert modeling, group discussion, and experiences when learning to use the rubric.

Teacher-student conversations are central to student learning within the science classroom. Educational literature recommends teachers aim to build a common scientific language and, through dialog, develop shared meanings with students. This study examines teacher-student conversations in the specific situation of an integrated science and engineering curriculum, involving lessons on heat transfer. The findings identify critical nuances and discourse patterns in the conversations that may pose barriers to student engagement and learning. The study illustrates the need for teachers to plan dialogic, authentic interaction with students to build shared meanings about scientific concepts in order to enhance STEM learning.

High school students’ prevalence as food-service industry employees and their lack of food safety knowledge make them prime candidates for food safety education. The researchers developed a food-safety-focused curriculum for high school students aligned with Indiana Academic Standards for Agriculture, Advanced Life Science: Food. The curriculum was designed to provide students with fundamental food safety concepts through experiential learning and incorporation of Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Mathematics (STEAM) activities in the context of different careers related to agriculture, especially in food science. This study uses the Delphi technique to evaluate the food safety curriculum, including the identification of barriers to incorporating the curriculum into classrooms. The Delphi technique uses an expert panel to generate consensus related to a abstract. As a math teacher, I don’t just think of math as numbers. I think of it as a logical thought process consider if for a wider in the ServSafe Overall, I would consider your audience and scope of your curriculum again...If you are really trying to improve the safety of food preparation of student in school middle shift focus away from the industrial a little, and used so they may be geared towards Nutrition and Wellness...you will reach many more students that way. while think I would so that see real-life of the home

Teaching integrative science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is gradually moving into agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) education. Numerous researchers have emphasized that educators’ beliefs are at the heart of framing effective educational practices. Although integrated STEM teaching and learning literature is growing, little research has focused on how preservice educators’ beliefs inform integrated STEM through AFNR practices. By conducting an interpretivist, multiple-case study, the purpose of this study was to explore how preservice educators’ beliefs and practices of their integrated STEM through AFNR lesson plans and instruction. The preservice educators’ beliefs of integrated STEM through AFNR lessons showed three stages of development: (1) preconceived stage, (2) broadened horizons stage, and (3) perceived reality stage. The findings revealed preservice educators have similar beliefs as science teachers in regard to learning outcomes when using integrated STEM approaches. Further, preservice educators designed integrated STEM lessons using AFNR content, in which they were most familiar. Finally, the perceived reality phase was the most challenging for preservice educators because they needed to transition their integrated STEM through AFNR views from being broad to how they could concretely facilitate meaningful integrated learning experiences for their students.

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.