Abstract:
The enrollment of students to the major scientific disciplines related to agriculture has been on the decline over the past decades. While it is unclear why enrollments change, few would argue that these same disciplines have not been proactive in raising the awareness and importance of environmental disciplines towards sustainable development and the survival and stability of civilizations. Today, most students are unaware of current food production and food security issues and the career opportunities associated with our majors that are hidden inside the “College of Agriculture.” We developed a general education course that addresses relevant food security issues and outlines the sciences contained within agriculture and future opportunities for feeding future generations. The objectives of this paper were to determine how our general education course changes student perception of population, food security and civilization stability and the relationship these concepts have with environmental sustainability. We evaluated student survey responses from two semesters (n=435) of our course. Fifty-two percent of students did not know a major in soil science existed, while 56% responded that they would like to take another course in that discipline. Ninety-nine percent indicated that knowledge of soil science was important in understanding food security, with 43% indicating that their opinion of these issues changed since the beginning of the semester. The food security knowledge and expertise contained within the Agriculture College is seen by students as highly relevant to their future and suggests more forthright marketing through general education courses of our expertise and career opportunities related to these disciplines should be explored further.
Key Words:
Soils and civilizations, general education, agricultural relevance
 20. O'Dell NACTA Special Issue Sept 2013.pdf | [ ] | 331 kB |
