Chapter 3 Agriculture as a Career 99 Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Agricultural Education Agricultural education classes provide many opportunities for you to learn through experience. Figure 3-1 shows the agricultural education model, including the places where experiential learning is likely to occur. In agricultural classes, there are many ways that your teacher can incorporate hands-on learning. Hands-on learning is instruction that includes activities provided for you to better understand and apply knowledge in a way that allows you to interact with material and objects. Agricultural education is set up to provide experiential learning in three components: „ Classroom and laboratory instruction. „ Leadership development through FFA activities. „ Hands-on application and learning through Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs). Classroom and Laboratory The classroom and laboratory part of agricultural education classes allows for experiential learning through teaching methods that let you participate in the learning process. There are many different agriculture classes from which to choose. Many classes are specific to the agriculture in your particular region. Sometimes, an agriculture program is made up of only one instructor, who teaches all of the different agriculture classes. Quite often, agricultural education programs will have multiple teachers, who each specialize in a particular area of agricultural science. Who are the agricultural educators at your school? One of the unique things about agriculture classes is their predisposition to laboratory activities. The structure and content of agricultural education courses makes them great places to explore new information through hands- on learning. Think about the different lab areas you have in your agriculture program. Greenhouses, gardens, animal labs, agricultural mechanics facilities, school farm plots, and even woodworking and food science areas are all used as lab spaces by agriculture programs around the country, Figure 3-2. Classroom and Laboratory Instruction Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE) FFA Leadership Goodheart-Willcox Publisher Figure 3-1. The agricultural education model shows the three main components of a total program. How balanced do you find your current agricultural education experience?