Date of Award
8-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Agriculture (MAgr)
Committee Chair/Advisor
Catherine A. DiBenedetto
Committee Member
Hunter F. Massey
Committee Member
Aaron P. Turner
Abstract
The Clemson Agricultural Safety, Growing Safe Tigers program was developed in 2019 with the goal of increasing the awareness of agricultural safety in South Carolina. By utilizing the land-based learning model, a need for agricultural safety education was identified through incident surveillance strategies. Agricultural incidents were quantified using AgInjuryNews.org and recommendations were made for the program to provide more tailored information to the four regions of South Carolina, based on the primary cause of incident for each region.
Educators’ understanding of place and interconnected systems was determined pertaining to agricultural safety to provide a baseline for how agricultural education teachers in South Carolina utilize resources. With one focus group, 22 agricultural educators provided the program with information regarding their competencies and current needs to allow them to better educate youth about agricultural safety. Recommendations, based on themes, were provided to the program on curricular improvement to best aid agricultural educators in teaching agricultural safety.
Intervention was achieved through the program’s field days. Four regular field days were hosted, along with one condensed field day. Regular field days were held at Clemson University Research and Education Centers (RECs), and the condensed field day was held on Clemson University’s main campus. A total of 365 students ages 14-18 attended the regular field days and 113 students attended the condensed field day. At all field days, pre and post-tests were administered to the students to gauge their agricultural safety knowledge that was gained during the field day. A total of 127 students completed both the pre and post-test at the regular field days. Three out of the four regular field days produced post-test means with statistically significant differences. The condensed field day produced 27 completed pre and post-tests with statistically significant differences between the pre-test and post-test means.
By implementing an adaptation of the land-based learning model to identify the program as the partner for SBAE programs, including their agricultural education students and teachers, a better understanding of curriculum updates, educational strategies, and place-based needs can be developed to continue to increase awareness of agricultural safety.
Recommended Citation
Lovern, Maryann, "Utilizing the Land-Based Learning Model for the Clemson Agricultural Safety, Growing Safe Tigers Program" (2023). All Theses. 4115.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4115