Agricultural Science  

Awards:

2012-2013 Individual NJ State FFA Turfgrass Management Champion 

Career Pathways

Agriculture is made up of seven pathways:

Program Components:

Three Circel Model: Classroom instruction, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), and FFA (leadership).

Course Descriptions

Intro to Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (Year 1) - Students will experience exciting “hands-on” activities, projects, and problems in areas of science, mathematics, reading, and writing components . Student experiences will involve the study of communication, the science of agriculture, plants, animals, natural resources, and agricultural engineering. While surveying the opportunities available in agriculture and natural resources, students learn to solve problems, conduct research, analyze data, work in teams, and take responsibility for their work, actions, and learning. Students investigate, experiment, and learn about documenting a project, solving problems, and communicating their solutions to their peers and members of the professional community.

Plant Science (Year 2) -   This is a foundation-level course teaching students the form and function of plant systems. Student experiences include the study of plant anatomy and physiology, classification, and the fundamentals of production and harvesting. Students will work in teams, exploring hands-on projects and activities, to learn the characteristics of plant science and work on major projects and problems similar to those that plant science specialists, such as horticulturalists, agronomists, greenhouse and nursery managers and producers, and plant research specialists face in their respective careers. Students learn how to apply scientific knowledge and skills to use plants effectively for agricultural and horticultural production. Students discover the value of plant production and its impact on the individual, the local, and the global economy.

Animal & Plant Biotechnology (Year 3) - This course provides students with experiences in industry appropriate applications of biotechnology related to plant and animal agriculture. Students are expected to become proficient at biotechnological skills involving micropipetting, bacterial cultures and transformations, electrophoresis, and polymerase chain reaction. Students maintain a research level Laboratory Notebook throughout the course documenting their experiences in the laboratory. Students develop and conduct a research project following the National FFA Agriscience Fair guidelines. From background research through data collection and analysis, students investigate a problem of their choice and conclude the project by reporting their results in the forms of a research paper and a research poster.

Agribusiness, Research & Development  (Year 4) - Agricultural Research and Development is the capstone course designed to culminate students’ experiences in agriculture, based on the pathway of study they pursued. Woven throughout the course are projects and problems based in practical applications and designed to develop and improve employability skills of students. Students further enhance critical thinking and teamwork skills as they expand on content knowledge from previous CASE courses. This course resembles completing a mini-master's degree.