By KJ Joseph, OSU College of Agricultural Sciences
One of the most consistent things we hear from graduate students in Agricultural Education is this: they want more chances to teach before student teaching. Not just observe. Not just plan. But actually teach — messy moments, real learners, authentic settings, and all.
This project was designed with that exact goal in mind. Through targeted funding, we expanded access to experiential learning opportunities for master’s students by supporting travel to secondary agricultural education programs and professional learning spaces. Rather than treating experiential learning as an add-on, this project embedded teaching practice directly into graduate coursework, particularly AED 554 (Micro Teaching) and AED 555 (Laboratory Pedagogy).
Over the course of the project, graduate students participated in 13 experiential learning opportunities across secondary and postsecondary agricultural education contexts. These included visits to six high schools and six Oregon State University instructional and laboratory environments, such as the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, greenhouses, meat laboratory, sheep and beef centers, and the vegetable garden. Students also attended the Oregon Agricultural Teachers Association (OATA) fall conference, gaining exposure to professional learning and networking opportunities within the field.
This breadth mattered. By intentionally designing experiences across diverse settings, students encountered a wide range of facilities, student populations, instructional constraints, and teaching possibilities. A greenhouse lesson feels very different from a welding shop, and both differ significantly from a high school classroom. Experiencing that variety early helped students better understand the realities of agricultural education and their own developing teaching identities.
Throughout Fall 2025, students engaged in hands-on agricultural skill development, including tractor operation, welding, sheep hoof trimming, vaccine administration, and laboratory demonstrations. But the emphasis was never solely on technical competency. Instead, the focus was on how to teach these skills effectively.
Students planned lessons, facilitated demonstrations, adapted instruction for different audiences, and reflected on safety, clarity, and learner engagement. They practiced explaining complex procedures in developmentally appropriate ways and learned how small instructional decisions, like where to stand, what language to use, how to scaffold a task and how those pedagogical decisions can shape student learning.
In other words, students weren’t just learning what to teach; they were learning how to teach.
At the end of the 2025 Fall term, students walked away feeling a greater confidence in lesson planning and sequencing and facilitating instruction in authentic agricultural settings. Students consistently named the high school site visits as the most impactful component of the project. Many shared that Micro-Teaching and Lab Pedagogy allowed them to apply theory to practice, identify areas for growth, and receive meaningful feedback in a lower-stakes environment.
That “lower-stakes” piece is critical. By practicing teaching before entering full-time student teaching placements, students were able to experiment, make mistakes, and reflect without the pressure of being the sole instructor of record.
For faculty and GTAs thinking about how to integrate experiential learning into graduate coursework, this project offers a simple reminder: when we give students real opportunities to practice teaching, paired with structured reflection and support, the learning sticks.
About the author: KJ Joseph is a Senior Instructor I in the Agricultural Education and Agricultural Sciences Department. KJ has been teaching courses in agricultural education, leadership and agricultural sciences at OSU for 5 years.
Editor’s note: This project was funded by a Center for Teaching and Learning 2025-26 Teaching Mini-Grant awarded to KJ Joseph, Josh Stewart and Teague Teece in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
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