Moore (1994) studied the historical teaching methodologies in agricultural education and found three major teaching approaches in agriculture: formal steps, project approach, andProblem solving approach.
These approaches used from the late 1800s to 1980s Newcomb et al. (1986) and Tyler (1969) concluded that the teaching strategy must base learning on inquiry, investigation, and critical study in situations in which genuine purposes, needs, and wants are experienced. For this reason, the role of teachers and their teaching strategies are never ending topics in all educational settings (Martin et al., 1986; Miller et al.
, 1984) recently there has been much concern expressed about quality teaching in educational institutions, while industries in the rapidly changing society have been concerned about the well-educated person. These concerns have led to the issue of teaching strategies and their effectiveness in secondary agriculture education (Kahler, 1995; Martin, 1995; Moore, 1994; Rollins, 1989). As agricultural educators, It is our responsibility to ensure adequate teaching and learning as necessary to meet the changing needs of the industry and the values of society (Melion, 1995, p. 5). According to Carkhuff (1981), teaching is the opportunity to help others to live their lives fully, which means we help to give to our learners’ lives through their physical, emotional, intellectual and social growth. Anderson (1994) concluded that student outcomes might heavily depend on the teacher’s instructional planning, teaching method selection, and having a variety of learning activities. The Committee on Agricultural Education (1988) suggested that the teaching strategy becomes the most critical element to educate students in learning activities.
Kahler (1995) addressed this issue when he stated. I discovered that it is a different world in the agriculture classroom than when I taught agriculture. I found that many of the students were not interested in what I was teaching them. I had to deal with several confrontations wherein students refused to perform tasks that I asked them to do. Some of my students just sat passively while I taught and waited for the bell so they could leave.
Several of the students were visibly troubled and it was apparent that they were in deep thought about what was bothering them. It became clear to me rather quickly that I was not reaching them and that I did not have enough techniques in my professional methods bag to pump up their interest in what I was teaching. Students come from different backgrounds and have varied experiences and abilities, Good teaching is not only dependent on teaching strategies or their effectiveness but it also depends on individual needs and adequacy of the content. Dyer and Osborne (1995) in their study entitled “Effects of Teaching Approach on Achievement of Agricultural Education Students with Varying Learning Styles” proposed that “the selection of an appropriate teaching approach is one of the most important processes to have teaching success and student achievement” (p. 260). Joyce and Weil (1986, in Dyer and Osborne 1995), further stated that “students react differently to different teaching methods, and that the selection of the proper method is critical to the learning style of those being served by the instruction” (p.260). There is an assumption that students learn with different styles, at different speeds,Different levels of prior knowledge and different environments when the subject matter isGiven by way of a variety of teaching strategies the second role of the social environment is to develop a set of propositions we call knowledge.
We seek propositions that are compatible with our individual constructions or understanding of the world. Thus, facts are facts because there is widespread agreement, not because there is some ultimate truth to the fact. It was once a fact that the earth was flat and the sun revolved around the earth. More recently, it was fact that the smallest particles of matter were electrons, protons and neutrons. These were facts because there was general agreement that the concepts and principles arising from these views provided the best interpretation of our world. The same search for viability holds in our daily life. In both cases, concepts that we call knowledge do not represent some ultimate truth, but are simply the most viable interpretation of our experiential world.
