Rebecca Ferguson, an agriscience educator at Suffield High School, recently attended a two-week virtual professional development institute through Carroll County, Maryland, to teach the Natural Resources and Ecology Curriculum for an Agricultural Science Education (CASE) course at the Suffield Regional Agriscience program. Rebecca was one of 24 educators from 10 different states to attend this institute.
CASE is an instructional system that is changing the culture of agriculture programs in the United States through intense teacher professional development, inquiry-based, student-focused lessons, assessment and certification. CASE equips teachers to elevate student experiences in the agriculture classroom and prepares students for success in college and careers emphasizing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In 2009, schools began implementing CASE into their programs. More than 2,000 teachers from 45 states, plus the Virgin Islands, hold close to 3,000 certifications and use them each day in their agriculture classrooms.
During the CASE Institute, Rebecca spent over 70 hours working through nearly every lesson in the year-long curriculum and learning how to deliver inquiry-based lessons in a way that will shift focus in the classroom from teacher-led to student-directed learning.
CASE is an initiative of the National Council for Agricultural Education and managed by the National Association of the Agricultural Educators (NAAE).