The University of Nebraska-Lincoln ALEC Department hosted a CASE Institute focusing on Food Science and Safety at Wayne High School last week.
The Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) Institute is a professional development workshop to provide teachers training for the instruction related to a specific CASE course.
Twenty ag teachers from Nebraska and five other states took part in the institute. The Lead Teachers were from New Jersey and Minnesota and the national curriculum director for CASE was part of the training.
Toni Rasmussen, Agricultural Educator at Wayne Community Schools, said "this event is helping me as an educational professional include curriculum development, classroom management, and professional interactions. I have taught Food Science for approximately four years and I have not been satisfied with the way I taught the class. This course gives me a better curriculum source and better scaffolding as I teach the course in the future. In classroom management, I gain ideas on how to organize my classroom and the materials that go with this class. Of course with professional interactions, getting to know other ag teachers, how they coordinate their classes, and their ag program is always helpful in gaining new ideas."
"The fact that it was hosted at the high school where I teach was especially helpful for me to see how it is structured with the materials and space I have available," Rasmussen said.
"I like how the event is structured with five days in the classroom and lab and three days virtually. This is a good balance of being away versus being online, though it is being hosted in the school where I teach. I appreciate the way we become students and can predict questions they may have as well as come up with ways to extend the curriculum further to challenge the students," Rasmussen said.
CASE’s mission is to impact student career readiness by empowering teachers with improved instructional practices and relevant curricula sustained by professional development. As of October 2022, 3,667 educators are certified in 7,198 CASE courses through their transformative, inquiry-based professional development institutes held each summer, and throughout the year during BriefCASEs. CASE certified teachers will reach more than 100,000+ students in 2023 with inquiry-based, student-focused activities, projects, and problems.
The Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) Institute is a professional development workshop to provide teachers training for the instruction related to a specific CASE course. After a teacher has successfully completed the intense professional development at a CASE Institute, the teacher is certified to teach the specific CASE course. CASE Institute sessions provide teachers with important background related to the pedagogy used in CASE curricula and practice teaching various lessons to prepare them for classroom instruction.
Teachers are required to participate in the entire eight-day workshop and CASE Institute instructors determine if each teacher is adequately prepared to provide instruction using CASE curricula.
Rasmussen and Wayne High School were able to participate in this professional development as a result of a scholarship support from the 2023 Nebraska Soybean Checkoff Professional Development Scholarship.
