Download or read book Application of Virtual Field Trips to Increase Agricultural Literacy of Youth written by Lauren Kate Stohlmann and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, physical field trips have been a hands-on, interactive educational method to enhance student knowledge and perception on various topics. Students can gain a lot from these experiences including interacting with professionals, connect classroom lessons to real-world examples, and engaging with real-world examples to increase interest and awareness of the topic. Today, schools face limited budgets and often times can’t afford to send students on field trips. Therefore, students are limited to a traditional classroom setting for learning, even though students are typically more interested in a hands-on approach to learning. Recently, some technologies have emerged as effective, new educational tools. Virtual field trips have become an alternative to physical field trips, while still achieving the same goals. In many instances, this is a free method of education that also saves time for teachers and schools in preparation and travel. Youth of today are regularly exposed to countless forms of digital environments such as games on iPads and watching television or YouTube videos. Virtual field trips engage students in a method of education that they are already comfortable with. At the same time, agricultural literacy of the general public is very low. Consumers are so far removed from the farm that they are not educated on agricultural practices and or where their food comes from. Consumers utilize online resources such as Google, YouTube, and their social media, to learn about various topics, including agriculture. Consumers, particularly students, are not motivated to actively seek out information and learn about agriculture, because they are not in a setting where they are able to engage with it. It is important for agricultural professionals to share their personal story to change perception and increase awareness. Several agricultural advocacy organizations have designed and hosted virtual farm trips, and each organization has taken its own approach. Some of these organizations choose to work with other stakeholders for this effort, some run this operation in-house and a few have only taken part for a short amount of time and found themselves stepping away from the program. This was a case study of four agricultural advocacy organization’s virtual field trip programs. These organizations, the Ohio Pork Council, the American Dairy Association Mideast, the Ohio Soybean Council, and the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, created and implemented their virtual field trip program within the last six years. While the programs were similar with their purpose to increase agricultural literacy, they differed in platform, design, audience, and supplemental educational materials. A quantitative survey was sent to ten teachers who took part in a virtual field trip program at one or more of the organizations. Based on the results of the survey, teachers chose to include this program into their curriculum to increase student knowledge of agriculture and introduce their classes to career opportunities. Teachers chose to incorporate this program into their classrooms because it was convenient and aligned with curriculum standards. Teachers also reported while they like that virtual field trips benefit their students, they wished it included more hands-on aspects to increase likeliness of student understanding of agriculture. This research could provide agricultural advocacy organizations, their collaborators and teachers with information to improve on the virtual field trip design(s) to best impact youth education and ultimately increase agricultural literacy.