Introduction
Agriculture, a backbone to most economies of the world, suffers from extinction due to its poor uptake among high school students. Agriculture provides food which gives not only energy to the working population but also ensures that they remain healthy to remain productive.
| Student Group: At Kibirichwa High School, 47 % of the student population is categorized as low-income | |||
| Achievement Gap: County examination results indicate that a gap of 42 % is prevalent in agriculture between form twos, low-income rural students, and higher income urban students | |||
| Trends | Issues | Evidence-Based Remediation Practices | Preferred Learning styles(s) |
| Between 2014-2017, county examination results point out to a slight decline in the performance gap between low –income earners and all learners at Kibirichwa High School, a 2 to 4 reduction in percentage points. | Notwithstanding the efforts employed by the school and the small decline in the achievement gap between the low-income and other high school students’, Kibirichwa High School notes that the achievement gap can further be reduced. | Employment of a resident guidance and counseling teacher, career talks and field trips for agriculture-based activities. (Karimi, 2015). | Enabler teaching style, facilitator styles (Lorenzo et al. 2007) |
1. Trends related to this student group evident at the selected school. The trends include the following:- gaps left by students while writing examinations, learners getting bored while the teacher is teaching, the formation of a negative attitude against the subject right from form one.
Address of the trends by the school
All the learners are supposed to answer all questions on the spaces provided; the lesson is divided into two; half of the time the teacher teaches while in the other half, the learners are asked several questions on how they would become successful agribusiness persons. (Porters et al.2017)
2. Issues related to this student group evident at the selected school and how the school is addressing them.
The social background- students from the rural set up have a positive bias towards agriculture while their counterparts from the urban set up have a negative attitude. Since seeing is believing, learners from the rural set up have witnessed their lives transform their parent’s engagement with agriculture. The school is currently sponsoring learners to attend shows organized by the Agriculture Society.
Learners from impoverished backgrounds may also have their self-esteem affected as they interact with students from high-income families. This harmful exposure where their fellow students laugh them off may result in declined performance. Learners are encouraged that their backgrounds don’t matter much as matters their success. (Genishi et al.2015)
Lack of awareness of the opportunities that are available in agriculture- students assume that farming is a dirty job, one done by people who are not learned. This is not true, and the school is reversing these thoughts through sponsoring students for field seminars in agriculture training centers as well as the invitation of career professionals from the ministry of agriculture to speak to the learners.
3. Suggested evidence-based remediation practices in use for the target student group at the school.
Employment of career counselors by the ministry of education who are guiding and counseling learners on the subject choice hence demystifying the wrong notion about agriculture. The school administration regularly invites career professionals to talk to the learners about career choices. (Collum et al. 427)
Practices requiring implementation
Upon entry into high school, every learner to be assigned a plot of land within the school farm in which they will practice the skills learned from class and the teacher should be available to supervise this. They should also be given some protective devices, attire to ensure that they can be hands-on the ground, a reward for best performing learner or plot.
Practices to be addressed in Module 4
Allocation of parcels of land on which the students can practice skills learned. This will be coupled by issuing of the relevant tools, equipment, attire, etc. to the learners. (Gurung, 2018)
4. Preferred learning styles of the student group. School’s address of the group’s preferred learning style(s)
Enabler and facilitating teaching style. This is because it is learner-centered and allows the learners to explore.
The student having been assigned a plot of land and taught at classroom is given an assignment of providing a pictorial representation of their plot. The teacher assesses their work and finally practice it on the farm. (Genishi et al.2015)
Conclusion
The success of teaching agriculture subject is based on the presence of a learner who will be keen to understand and use the skill, a teacher who has a mastery of the content and is able to dispense this knowledge comfortable as well as the right environment which will include both the learner’s internal environment and their surrounding environment.
References
Genishi, C., & Dyson, A. H. (2015). Children, language, and literacy: Diverse learners in diverse times. Teachers College Press.
Collum, D., Dennis, L., Gohring, A., Bishop, M., & Delicath, T. (2017, March). Evaluating the Effectiveness of simSchool on Increasing Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of the Educational Needs of Diverse Learners: A Study across Three Midwestern Universities. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 422-431). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Portes, P. R., González Canché, M., Boada, D., & Whatley, M. E. (2017). Early Evaluation Findings From the Instructional Conversation Study: Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcomes for Diverse Learners in Elementary School. American Educational Research Journal, 0002831217741089.
Sullivan, S. C., & Downey, J. A. (2015). Shifting educational paradigms: From traditional to competency-based education for diverse learners. American Secondary Education, 43(3), 4.
Gurung, R. A. (2018). Diversifying Your Toolkit for Learners: Evidence-Based Strategies for Supporting Success in Diverse Learners.
