Boundless Science for Bountiful Agriculture: Conducting a National Essay Contest for Middle School Youth

NACTA Journal, Sep 2004 by Wingenbach, Gary J, Rutherford, Tracy A, Murphy, Tim R

Abstract

In fall 2002, the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) captured middle school students' interests in the agricultural sciences by sponsoring a national essay contest. This paper describes the essential processes of conducting a national essay contest for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students.

Contest collaboration was achieved by CAST through contents promotions to the USDA and congressional representatives. The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service provided major funding for the contest. Information technology requirements included Microsoft's Internet Information Server, Structured Query Language database server applications, Active Server Pages, and Hypertext Markup Language.

A total of 804 essays were received from 40 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands. First and second place essays were submitted from home-schooled female students, from the sixth and seventh grades respectively. Only two of the top five essays were submitted by public school students.

Contest management was successful due to the planning and organization of appropriate hardware and software configurations. Future essay contest coordinators should consider their strengths and weaknesses in three areas: existence of appropriate hardware, software applications, and the technological support to coordinate these resources.

Introduction

Most students do not like to write. It seems as if written forms of communication at all levels of education have become a lost art in current classrooms. Too often, students abhor the notion of having to complete assigned essays. Why? One reason might be that outside of electronic mail (e-mail) usage, the common occurrence of writing down one's thoughts on any subject is a lost art. True, most Americans do not take the time to write letters or send cards to family members, or even to send postcards while on vacation. Cellular telephones, e-mail, and digital cameras have afforded many the conveniences to "communicate" our thoughts and/or experiences almost instantaneously.

Student performance in writing is impacted by many forces. Academic self-concept is acknowledged to influence student performance across disciplines (Hattie, 1992). Apprehension about writing correlates to writing performance (Pajares & Valiante, 1997) and has been confirmed by self-efficacy researchers that students' confidence in writing is related to the writing competence (Pajares & Valiante, 1997).

For more than 30 years the National Assessment of Educational Progress has collected nationally representative data about American student performance in several subject areas, including reading, mathematics, science, U.S. history, civics, geography, and arts (U.S. Dept. of Education, 2003). Achievement levels of Basic, Proficient, and Advanced are used to report results, based on levels of student performance.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress in Writing was first conducted in 1998 and repeated in 2002. This assessment reflects performance of both public and non-public students at the fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade levels. The 2002 assessment found an increase in overall student writing scores at the fourth and eighth grade levels. There was also a significant increase in the percentage of eighth grade students performing at the Proficient level. The Proficient level is the level identified by the National Assessment Governing Board at which all students should perform. Proficient is defined by the board as a level of "solid academic performance," demonstrated by "competency over challenging subject matter" (U.S. Dept. of Education, 2003, p. 8).

In fall 2002, the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) was determined to capture middle school students' interests in the agricultural sciences by providing a venue for them to practice their writing skills. CAST, in partnership with the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and several private companies and professional organizations established a national essay contest, Boundless Science for Bountiful Agriculture. According to Routman (1994) writing in all areas provides a way for students to extend their understanding of concepts. A national essay contest is one means of engaging students in agricultural sciences.

Process

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of establishing and conducting a national essay contest for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. The following objectives guided the development of this paper.

1. Describe the collaboration process necessary for establishing a national essay contest.

2. Describe information technology requirements needed to conduct the contest.

3. Describe online essay submission and evaluation processes.

Outcomes

Establishing Collaboration

CAST's mission is to assemble, interpret, and communicate science-based information on food, fiber, agricultural, natural resource, and related societal and environmental issues to national and international stakeholders (legislators, regulators, policy makers, the media, the private sector, and the public). National contests require profound planning, organization, and administration to achieve successful outcomes. As with most projects of this magnitude, funding was necessary to pay for staff and technical support throughout the duration of the project. CAST support staff took advantage of their location in Washington, D. C., to promote successfully the national essay contest to USDA officials, funding agencies, and congressional representatives working in the nation's capitol. The primary mode of promotion was achieved through face-to-face meetings with USDA officials and congressional representatives, while telephone and e-mail contact occurred with funding agencies (NASA and Dow AgroSciences). As a result of these promotional efforts, CSREES provided major funding to initiate the national contest; additional funding to conduct the contest was provided by NASA, NRCS, CAST, Dow AgroSciences, and several private and professional organizations.