Determining the use of Food, Land & People materials in Iowa\u27s K-12 curricula

The number of student coming from a farm background continues to decline, but the importance of agriculture must continue to be taught. The purpose of the study was to describe how Iowa K-12 teachers who have participated in Food, Land, & People (FLP) workshops are using the materials in their classroom. The objectives of the study sought out to 1) Describe the demographic characteristics of teachers participating in FLP training workshops, 2) Determine the use of FLP lessons in the Iowa classrooms. 3) Identify barriers preventing teachers who have taken the FLP workshops from using the materials in their classrooms, and 4) Determine if demographic characteristics influence teachers\u27 implementation of agriculture into their curricula. A total of 90 Iowa teachers participated in the study. The average FLP participant was a female that was 48 years old and had 21 years of teaching experience. The amount of agriculture that educators teach after attending a FLP workshop generally increases and educators integrate an average of four FLP lessons into their curricula. Time is still the biggest barrier to including agriculture into the classroom. Elementary teachers viewed the following statements as barriers to implementing agriculture into the classroom, Lack of interest on my part , Lack of student interest , and Lack of follow-up from FLP workshop facilitator . However, the same three statements were not viewed as barriers by elementary school teachers. Elementary school teachers believed that the lesson went over during the FLP workshop helped them integrate agriculture into their curricula, while the middle school teachers didn\u27t agree the workshop helped them integrate agriculture into the classroom