Attitudes of Texas agrilife extension 4-H agents on incorporating science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in 4-H youth development

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2012-12

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of Texas Agrilife Extension county 4-H agents on incorporating science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) into 4-H youth development. The target population for this study was identified as Texas county 4-H Extension agents. Fifty-five Texas county 4-H Extension agents were identified and 44 (N = 44) responded giving the researcher a 75% response rate.
The study included descriptive and correlational methodologies via an electronic questionnaire. Three research constructs were developed and addressed in this study: the attitudes of Texas county 4-H Extension agents toward STEM subjects, the attitudes of Texas county 4-H Extension agents toward incorporating STEM into 4-H youth development, and the attitudes of Texas county 4-H Extension agents on teaching and/or leading 4-H youth in STEM topics. The researcher-developed instrument was a 30-item instrument that asked participants to indicate their level of agreement with each statement by using a Likert-type scale. Texas county 4-H Extension agents slightly agreed that STEM is important to 4-H youth development and slightly agreed that STEM is becoming an integral part of 4-H. Point-biserial correlation coefficients revealed low to negligible relationships between the three research constructs regarding teaching credentials. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients, again, revealed low to negligible relationships regarding the three research constructs and the Texas county 4-H Extension agents’ level of education.

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Keywords

4-H clubs, Extension, Texas agrilife, Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Science, engineering, and technology (SET)

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