Student Perceptions of a Crop Scouting Project in An Agronomy Course.

A student crop scouting project in an undergraduate agronomy course was investigated to ascertain student perceptions. Thirty-three students enrolled in AGR 305 (Crop Growth and Development) at Illinois State University (Spring 2013 semester) were surveyed after the completion of a crop scouting project. A five-page handout was given to the students at the beginning of the semester detailing the requirements of the project. Each student group (comprised of 3 students from same general area) selected a field (with approval from the instructor) and generated a report containing the required items in the handout. A one-page survey was administered to students (IRB Approval Number 2013-0062, Illinois State University) after the completion of the crop scouting project in May 2013 (last day of the semester). Twenty-seven of the thirty-three students chose to participate in the survey. For 37% of the surveyed students, this project was their first experience in crop scouring a production field. The average student spent 2.5 hours on the crop scouting project (range of 1 to 4 hours per student). The Likert scale (1 to 5, with 1 = strongly agree and 5 = strongly disagree) was used to gauge student feedback to a series of short questions. Students perceived a benefit to learning from completing the crop scouting project (25 out of 27 students selected strongly agree or agree), and would recommend the instructor continue to use the crop scouting project (24 students strongly agreed or agreed). The primary concern of students was field selection; given the time limits of the semester, and the late-planting season of corn in Illinois in 2013, several student groups were forced to find a small grain field to scout. Overall, the crop scouting project had a positive influence on student learning in an upper level undergraduate agronomy course.