Training Teens to Teach Agricultural Biotechnology : A National 4-H Science Demonstration Project

This article discusses a National 4-H Science agricultural biotechnology demonstration project and the impact of the pilot programs on the teenage leaders and teachers. A total of 82 teenagers were extensively trained, who in turn, engaged 620 youth participants with agricultural biotechnology education in afterschool and summer programs in five states. This article details the national and state level trainings for these teen teachers as well as the content rich partners from agribusinesses, agricultural commodity groups, and universities who supported their involvement. The impact on the content knowledge, science process and life skills, and program development and implementation skills of the teen leaders and teachers was evaluated using multiple instruments over multiple administrations (pre-training, post-training, and post-teaching). Results indicate significant gains in most areas assessed. Project recommendations and future plans are also discussed.


Introduction
Today, many young people are generationally and geographically removed from farming and agriculture.Yet, it is vital that these young leaders and future decision makers understand the critical role of agricultural science innovation in addressing the world's most pressing problems.In 2012, National 4-H Council in partnership with the United Soybean Board (USB) and five Land Grant Universities conducted four, teen led agricultural biotechnology demonstration programs in ten urban areas of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio.These programs are part of the larger 4-H Science in Urban Communities Initiative, and were designed using the 4-H Science in Urban Communities Promising Practices Guide available at http://urban4hscience.rutgers.edu(Ripberger, & Blalock, 2011).

Teens as Teachers
The 4-H Youth Development Program has a long history of training and supporting teenagers to teach or co-facilitate youth programs for their peers and/or younger youth.The teens as crossage teachers delivery model has been implemented with a variety of curricula, including healthy living (Emil, Dworkin, & Skelly, 2007;Ripberger, Devitt, & Gore, 2009), job readiness (Ripberger, Bovitz, Cole, & Lyons, 2008), and science (Bird, & Subramaniam, 2011;Smith & Enfield, 2002;Utah State University Cooperative Extension, 2011).Lee and Murdock (2002) studied 14 teens as teachers programs, and identified ten essential elements of programs that lead to positive outcomes for the teen teachers and those they teach: a) dedicated adults who support teens, b) active teen recruitment, c) strong curriculum, d) initial training, e) ongoing training and support, f) attention to details, g) recognition and reward, h) team building, i) setting teens up for success, and j) feedback and evaluation.
Based on their work, several resources have been created to support 4-H professionals developing teens as teachers programs.These resources include a 4-H Afterschool resource guide to help practitioners recruit and train teenagers to work with younger youth in afterschool settings (Junge, 2005) and a more concise 4-H Science fact sheet, Engaging Teens as Teachers through Youth-Adult Partnerships in 4-H Science (Schmitt-McQuitty, 2012).
The agricultural biotechnology project discussed in this article is based on the work of Lee and Murdock and the practices outlined in the Staffing with Teenagers and Teens as Cross-Age Teachers chapter of the 4-H Science in Urban Communities Promising Practices Guide (Ripberger, & Blalock, 2011).Ripberger and Blalock worked with six 4-H professionals with extensive experience in "teens as teachers" programs to identify "teens as teachers" promising practices in four areas:

Resources and Support
Provide research-based curricula and materials.Supportive adult partners are a critical factor in great teen teaching.
Ensure that adults working with teens are trained and prepared.Assist teens in reflecting on their teaching experience.
A full description of the practices along with a short video featuring the contributors, brief case studies, and suggested resources is available at http://urban4hscience.rutgers.edu/practices/staffing/teens.html.

Need for Agricultural Biotechnology Programming
Agricultural biotechnology is a "range of tools, including traditional breeding techniques, that alter living organisms, or parts of organisms, to make or modify products; improve plants or animals; or develop microorganisms for specific agricultural uses.Modern biotechnology today includes the tools of genetic engineering" (USDA, n.d., p. 1).To date, agricultural biotechnology has primarily been used to increase crop yields through the development of a variety of transgenic crops that are herbicide tolerant, insect resistant, and/or disease resistant.However, a variety of agricultural biotechnology products are in various stages of research, development, and commercialization that have the potential of addressing some of our most pressing issues related to global food security, nutrition, energy, and sustainability (USDA;National Research Council, 2008;Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, 2001).
Through 2015, it is estimated that there will be 54,400 annual job openings for those with agricultural college degrees (Goecker, Smith, Smith, & Goetz, 2010).While the percentage of these opportunities in production agriculture (farming) has declined, 27% of these jobs will be in science and engineering and 47% will be in management and business.A shortfall of graduates for these science and business positions is projected as we approach 2015, especially for the anticipated demand for plant geneticists and plant breeders.The 4-H Teens Teaching Youth Agricultural Biotechnology project was designed to help youth increase their knowledge of agricultural biotechnology and to increase their awareness of career opportunities available in this growing field.This project is consistent with the recommendations for K-12 and youth outreach from Transforming Agricultural Education for a Changing World, a report from the National Research Council (2009), Many of the messages in the report about the changing nature of agriculture also apply to the way that it is portrayed in youth-focused programs.These activities have the same responsibility as agriculture faculty to ensure that the treatment of agriculture in courses and curricula reflects the cutting edge and the increasing focus on issues such as sustainability and concern for the environment.(p.83) As a pilot project, 4-H Teens Teaching Youth Agricultural Biotechnology was designed to serve as a foundation for an increased focus on AgriScience programming by 4-H.

Project Design
In 2011 National 4-H Council, with support from the United Soybean Board (USB), solicited interest from 4-H professionals to participate in a year-long "teens as teachers" project focused on agricultural biotechnology.Through a competitive proposal process, four grants of $25,000 were awarded to 4-H programs in Delaware, Illinois/Missouri (a partnership), Indiana, and Ohio.Each of these 4-H programs agreed to the overall project objectives and outcome objectives.

Project Objectives
1.Each demonstration program will include a leadership team composed of four Teen Leaders, at least one 4-H Program professional, and at least one agricultural biotechnology partner from their state soybean board, industry, and/or their Land Grant University.2. All leadership team members will attend the project kickoff/grantee training, January 11-14, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana.3. The project will engage a total of 80 urban teens and 400 younger youth participants with biotechnology education in order to identify promising practices for future replication with expanded audiences.Eighty urban teens will be recruited and extensively trained to deliver a minimum of 20 hours of biotechnology programming for youth in afterschool, club, and summer/camp programs.

Outcome Objectives
1. Content Knowledge -Agricultural Biotechnology a. Participants will increase their knowledge of biotechnology/AgriScience principles and concepts.b.Participants will increase their awareness of potential careers in agricultural biotechnology fields.c.Participants will feel comfortable communicating the biotechnology story.

Science Process and Life Skills
a. Participants will increase in 4-H Science Abilities (science process skills) (Worker, 2012).b.Participants will increase in Life Skills as measured by the Youth, Engagement, Attitudes and Knowledge (YEAK) Survey.

Concepts and Related Activities and Curricular Resources
In the absence of a comprehensive and current 4-H agricultural biotechnology curriculum, the demonstration program leadership teams were introduced to a variety of activities from suggested curricula at the national training.These activities, along with field trips, presentations from content-rich partners, and computer-based resources, were sequenced to address the following concepts (see Table 2).Suggested curricula included the 4-H AgriScience Online biotechnology activities (Horton, Warkentien, & Gogolski, 2011) and resources from the Iowa State University Biotech Office (2012).Teams also utilized selected components of an agricultural biotechnology curriculum from The Children's Museum of Indianapolis ( 2007) and the GetBiotechSmart.comwebsite (United Soybean Board, 2012).

Challenges for Agriculture
Global Food Security Sustainability Primarily addressed through guest speakers, field trips, PPT, and video.

Project Evaluation
Teen Teachers and Teen Leaders were evaluated using multiple instruments over multiple administrations.Teen Leaders were Teen Teachers who had the additional responsibility of attending the National Kickoff Training and planning and implementing state trainings for their peers.Instruments included a Knowledge Assessment, several open-ended questions, a Retrospective Assessment, and the Youth Engagement, Attitudes, and Knowledge Survey (YEAK).In addition, the adult program leaders were asked to provide feedback regarding the project.

Knowledge Assessment
A 29-item (36 points) Knowledge Assessment was developed specifically for this project.The assessment included items on genetics, the science of biotechnology, input and output traits, types of biotechnology crops, biotechnology benefits and concerns, and biotechnology regulation.Question formats included multiple choice, matching, true/false, and short answer.
The assessment was administered to the Teen Teachers and Leaders three times, pre-training, post-training, and post-teaching.Scores were assigned based upon number of correct items.
Results were analyzed with SPSS using paired t-tests for dependent samples.
Open-ended Questions The teens were asked to answer three open-ended questions about their experiences.The questions included: 1. What are the three (3) most valuable things you learned about biotechnology this week?2. What was the most valuable part of this training?3. What was the most valuable part of this biotechnology program experience?
Responses were analyzed by clustering the answers into similar groups.The authors then looked for emerging themes, and labeled the clusters accordingly.
Retrospective Assessment A 7-item Retrospective Assessment was also developed for this project to assess how students felt about their: • understanding of the science of biotechnology, • awareness of careers in biotechnology, • confidence to speak intelligently about biotechnology, • confidence to implement the 4-H biotechnology program in their state, • confidence to teach/facilitate biotechnology activities with other youth, • confidence to work as part of a team to develop the program, and • awareness of the many opportunities to engage content-rich partners in programming.
The response set included strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), agree (3), and strongly agree (4).The assessment was administered twice, once after the trainings and again after completion of the teens' teaching responsibilities.Results were analyzed with SPSS using paired t-tests for dependent samples.
Youth Engagement, Attitudes, and Knowledge Survey (YEAK) The YEAK survey is a national instrument developed to assess the impact of 4-H Science programming on youth participants (Mielke, LaFleur, & Sanzone, 2010).The survey was administered twice to the Teen Teachers, before training (pre-survey) and again after completing their teaching responsibilities (post-survey).The survey asked youth to provide a self-report on personal decision making, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.The survey also included a series of questions intended to gauge respondents' enthusiasm for science as a subject that touches their everyday lives.Respondents were also asked to describe their own science skills.Results were analyzed using SPSS by Policy Studies Associates, Inc.

Program Leaders
Program leaders were asked to identify promising practices in program development, implementation, and evaluation that could be shared with others to enhance future programming.Responses were analyzed by clustering the answers into similar groups.The authors then looked for emerging themes, and labeled the clusters accordingly.

Results
The program was evaluated using several instruments over multiple administrations.Often, a single instrument was used to assess multiple dimensions of the project.As this is a program evaluation, results are reported here according to project and outcome objectives, instead of reporting by instrument.

Project Objectives
Each of the four demonstration programs included a leadership team composed of four Teen Leaders, at least one 4-H Program professional, and at least one agricultural biotechnology partner from their state soybean board, industry, and/or their Land Grant University.All leadership team members attended the project kickoff/grantee training, January 11-14, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Eighty-two teenagers, an average of 20.5 per demonstration program, were trained as Teen Teachers.Demographics of the Teen Teachers were as follows: 49% African American, 48% White, and 3% American Indian or Asian.4% were Hispanic.60% were female.Seventy-six percent (76%) lived in urban or metropolitan areas.This program was the first experience with 4-H for 45% of the teens, and 47% had participated in 4-H for three or more years (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1
Demographics: Teen Teachers Race Gender

Grade Level Residence
Table 3 provides a snapshot of the expected and achieved project objectives.All stated objectives were achieved.Though not one of the stated objectives, 800 additional youth were reached at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC (April 2012).Leadership teams from the four demonstration programs led a DNA Extraction activity for participants.

Outcome Objectives
Agricultural Biotechnology Knowledge and Career Awareness The Teen Teachers were expected to: increase knowledge of agricultural biotechnology principles and concepts, increase awareness of potential careers in agricultural biotechnology fields, and to become more comfortable communicating the biotechnology story.The Knowledge Assessment was developed to track changes in the teens' knowledge over the course of the project.It was administered three times, pre-training (n=73), post-training (n=72), and post-teaching (n=40).
The teens demonstrated statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvements on the Knowledge Assessment over time.Teen Leaders, however, scored significantly better than Teen Teachers on the post-training and post-teaching administrations (see Figure 3).Teen Teachers were also asked an open-ended question in the pre-and post-assessments: What are the three most valuable things you learned about biotechnology? Results tended to cluster around seven major themes, though 19% (n=28) of the responses did not fall into any of the themes (see Table 4).Environment (examples of how it positively impacts the environment) 9 A 7-item Retrospective Assessment was administered twice to Teen Teachers, after training and again after teaching.It included items that asked teens about their: • understanding of the science of biotechnology, • awareness of careers in biotechnology, and • confidence to speak intelligently about biotechnology.T-test analyses of both administrations (n=39 pairs) indicated statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvements across all items (see Figure 4).

Figure 4
Retrospective Assessment: Biotechnology Items (n=39 pairs) Science Process and Life Skills It was expected that the Teen Teachers would exhibit increases or gains in 4-H Science Abilities (science process skills) and the Life Skills measured by the YEAK survey.A total of 49 teens returned both the pre-and post-survey.Results for selected science and life skills can be found in Table 5.The 7-item Retrospective Assessment included items that asked teens about their: • confidence to implement the 4-H biotechnology program in my state, • confidence to teach/facilitate biotechnology activities with other youth, • confidence to work as part of a team to develop the program, and • awareness of the many opportunities to engage content-rich partners in programming.

Figure 5
Programming Skills and Abilities (n=39 pairs) Teen Teachers were asked to provide responses to several open-ended questions in the preand post-assessments.These questions were designed to illicit feedback about the overall project as well as the trainings (see Table 6).
a) program planning and evaluation, b) recruitment, c) training, and d) resources and support (see Development and Implementation a. Participants will improve their teaching and communication skills.b.Participants will increase their skills in 4-H Science program design.c.Participants will understand how to effectively use content rich partners as part of their trainings.d.Participants will understand how to integrate biotechnology/AgriScience activities from recommended curricula sources into program plans.
Figure 3Knowledge Assessment Scores

Table 1
(Ripberger & Blalock, 2011) Teens as Cross-Age Teachers Promising Practices(Ripberger & Blalock, 2011) TrainingRead the chapter Training Others to Deliver High Quality Science Programming.Provide quality training for teens and their adult partners.Create opportunities to practice.Group youth into teaching teams.Ask youth to visualize the teaching process.

Table 2
Ag Science Concepts and Related Activities and Resources The Kickoff Training was a four-day program held in Indianapolis, Indiana for 16 Teen Leaders and 16 adults serving on state leadership teams.Program kickoff partners included USB, the Indiana Soybean Alliance (new uses, communicating the biotech story, and a panel of Purdue students and faculty from the Soybean Innovation Contest), Purdue University (Biotechnology 101, DNA extraction and sequencing activities), Beck's Hybrids (seed production, input and output traits, trait testing activity, tour), Dow AgroSciences (biotechnology and global food security, product pipeline, tour), and Adayana, Inc. (GetBiotechSmart.com).In addition to presentations and tours from partners, the youth also experienced several activities from suggested curricula and practiced teaching these activities on the last day.Participants also had time to brainstorm ideas for teen recruitment, training, and program implementation.After attending the national kickoff training, state leadership teams (four teens, 4-H professional, and content rich partner) were responsible for recruiting additional teen teachers and planning and implementing a 15-hour training to help prepare them for their responsibilities.State teams were strongly encouraged to utilize content rich partners from agribusinesses, universities, and agricultural commodity groups in their training events.Highlights of their partners, trainings, and programming are below.Delaware 4-H partnered with Boys and Girls Club in Clayton, the Delaware Housing Authority in Dover, Urban Promise in Wilmington, and a local school to deliver four agricultural biotechnology summer camps from June through August.The program's content rich partners included the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, a University of Delaware agronomist, and a member of the Delaware Soybean Board.In addition to hosting part of the two-day state teen training in March, the Delaware Biotechnology Institute also allowed access to research labs and provided activities for the youth camp participants.In addition, the Delaware team also incorporated several of the biotech activities into the annual science adventure camp.Thomas of the Danforth Plant Science Center, who hosted a weekend planning retreat in January and the weekend teen training in February.Dr.Woodford-Thomas also assisted with activities and mentoring the Teen Teachers.In addition to their regular programming, the teenagers incorporated agricultural biotechnology activities into the Missouri State 4-H Congress in May and the Youth Futures Conference in July.The program was presented to afterschool professionals at the Midwest Regional Science Conference.Teen Teachers and in engaging other content rich partners such as the Biotechnology Learning Center of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, host of part of the two-day teen training in February.Ohio (Dayton)The Teen Leaders conducted a pilot of the program at a partnering afterschool site in Dayton, Ohio from February to April before recruiting and training additional teens to deliver the program as part of the six-week Adventure Central summer camp in June and July for 111 youth.The agricultural biotechnology training was incorporated into the weeklong teen counselor training prior to camp.In addition to the camp-based programming, the Ohio 4-H team partnered with the Ohio Soybean Council and the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center to coordinate a day trip to The Ohio State University to meet with faculty from Food Science, Horticulture and Crop Science, and Agricultural Engineering.USA Science and Engineering Festival All leadership teams (teens and staff) traveled to Washington DC in April 2012 to represent National 4-H and this project at the USA Science and Engineering Festival-the largest celebration of science in the US -featuring over 500 interactive exhibits for approximately 500,000 people.In addition to time spent staffing the 4-H booth, the teens participated in activities from a variety of universities, federal agencies, and science centers.
Demonstration Program Highlights and Content Rich Partners Delaware (Claymont, Dover, Hartly, and Wilmington) Illinois/Missouri (Cahokia and Madison, Illinois; Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri) Illinois and Missouri 4-H programs joined forces to implement nine 20-hour programs with afterschool, camp, and summer school partners in the greater St. Louis and Kansas City areas.From the beginning, the program benefitted from the expertise of Dr. Terry Woodfordcampus-based summer camps in June, Purdue 4-H Roundup and one of the Purdue 4-H Science Workshops (PINE-Plants, Insects, Natural Resources, Environment).Dr. Kathryn Orvis, State 4-H Specialist, served as the primary content partner, lending a background in plant science and biotechnology education to the Indiana team.Dr. Orvis was instrumental in training the

Table 5
YEAK Survey Results (selected) Program Development and Implementation Skills and Abilities The project was designed to increase the Teen Teachers' skills and understanding in: (a) teaching and communication, (b) program design, (c) including content-rich partners in trainings, and (d) integrating biotechnology/AgriScience activities into program plans.
Teen Teachers' Perceptions of Most Valuable Components of Training and Program