Development and Evaluation of an Intramural Poultry Judging Contest1

ABSTRACT An intramural poultry judging contest was conducted in conjunction with an introductory animal sciences course. The contest was found to be popular and positively affected students ' attitudes toward poultry science and the poultry industry. In 1985,1986, and 1987,50,61, and 67%, respectively, of students in the class elected to participate in the contest for class credit in preference to four alternate activities. Participants were required to attend an orientation session plus four weekly practice sessions and to participate in the contest The contest consisted of judging five classes of chickens and products and taking a written exam. Course records and questionnaires completed by contestants during 1986 and 1987, and by former contestants in 1988, were used as sources of the data reported. Although contest scores were not used in calculating the students ' course grades, grades and contest scores were positively related. Furthermore, the grade point average of contest participants was higher than that of students selecting other projects. Over 80 % of the 178 students participating in the contest indicated that their attitudes toward poultry science were improved by the activity. Increased enrollment in the introductory poultry science course over a 2-yr period was associated with students ' participation in the contest activity. (Key words: poultry judging, contests, teaching agriculture, poultry instruction, intramural contests