This is a workshop for teachers and students who are interested in participating in the agriscience events offered by the National FFA Organization. A panel of agriscience teachers (former Agriscience Teachers of the Year and FFA advisors of student winners in the Agriscience Student Recognition program and the Agriscience Fair) will provide a presentation on motivating students in agriscience, how to begin an agriscience project, how to create agriscience displays, and how to complete agriscience applications. After all presentations, the teachers will act as a panel to field questions from the workshop participants. Participants will leave the workshop with a packet of "tried and true" science project ideas developed by the workshop presenters.

Using FFA to Motivate Students
(presented by the NAAE)

Participate in this workshop to learn an approach to using the FFA to motivate agriculture students in the classroom to learn the instructional program in the curriculum. A strong emphasis is placed upon using career development events at the local level to enhance student learning. A list of 17 principles, each designed to maximize student motivation and learning, will be presented. Even though winning (finishing first) is played down, the effective implementation of the 17 principles should motivate students to achieve high levels of success. The presenter, Dr. Charles W. Byers, has taught the student/youth organization course at the University of Kentucky for more than 30 years.

Saving the Planet Using Pesticides and Plastics
(presented by the NAAE)

Dr. Dennis Avery, Director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues, offers a preview of the book (entitled Saving the Planet With Pesticides and Plastics) and lesson plans the Hudson Institute will distribute this year to the nation’s agricultural educators. His message literally seems too good to be true: how to disarm the urban critics of modern high-yield farming, achieve higher farm prices and radically-expanded farm export markets, and prevent the regulatory strangulation which seems to threaten the future of American agriculture. The solutions aren’t easy, Dr. Avery says, but they’re possible. Attend this workshop to get an advance look at the book and instructional materials that will be coming your way soon.

Whether you’re talking about the Monarch butterfly, Dolly the sheep, or international trade, biotechnology is a topic that effects everyone, including agricultural educators. Beth Wilson, North Carolina State University, will preview the upcoming instructional materials that focus on applications of biotechnology in agriculture. Activities are organized around ways that people are likely to encounter biotechnology (such as the roles of technician, consumer, researcher, food producer, etc.) Activities include opportunities to practice important skills, such as applying mathematics, practicing communications, performing basic lab skills, applying the scientific method, conducting SAEs, and participating in agriscience leadership organizations. These materials offer excellent team-teaching possibilities between agriculture and science teachers.