Perceptions of Mississippi secondary agriculture teachers concerning pilot Agriscience courses

According to agricultural education department heads and research experts, the second highest priority research topic in agricultural education is to “determine the appropriate curriculum for agricultural education in the secondary schools ” (Silva-Guerrero and Sutphin, 1990, p.6). A common practice used to determine curriculum is to develop pilot courses and evaluate the courses to determine whether they should be included in the curriculum. Teacher perceptions are often a major part of the evaluation of these courses (Norris and Briers, 1989; Peasley & Henderson, 1992). The study reported in this article used teacher perceptions as one way of determining whether an agriscience course or courses should be part of the secondary agricultural education curriculum in Mississippi. In 1988, the National Research Council (NRC) reported that “much of the focus and content of many vocational agriculture programs is outdated ” (p. 3). The NRC recommended that agricultural educators move quickly to upgrade the scientific and technical content of the curriculum. Mississippi agricultural educators responded to this recommendation by developing two pilot courses in agriscience for the 1991-92 school year. One course, Introduction t