Agricultural educators representing five states convened at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville June 18-28 to participate in the 2023 Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) Institute hosted by the ATU Department of Agriculture and Tourism.
The K-12 and university teachers in attendance engaged in a full academic year of labs and activities over a span of eight days. As a result, the teachers are now prepared to deliver the agriculture natural resources and ecology curriculum they covered to their students.
Dr. Bryan Rank, associate professor of agricultural education at ATU, said the agriculture natural resources and ecology course counts as a science credit toward high school graduation in Arkansas.
Rank was the ATU representative who oversaw and helped facilitate the institute. David Givens of Atkinson, Neb., and Libby Vaught of Clarksville served as institute instructors. Vaught will teach agriculture at Russellville High School beginning in fall 2023.
Participants in the 2023 CASE Institute at ATU represented Arkansas, Indiana, Oregon, South Dakota and Wyoming.
According to information provided by the national organization, CASE Institute sessions “provide teachers important background related to the pedagogy used in CASE curricula and practice teaching various lessons to prepare them for classroom instruction.”
The CASE Institute at Arkansas Tech is sponsored by Farm Credit of Western Arkansas and the ATU Department of Agriculture and Tourism.
Learn more at www.atu.edu/case.
