| The purpose of this study was to focus on the perceptions of urban agriculture education stakeholders toward curriculum issues and curriculum content of urban agriculture education programs. The study sought to determine the importance of program linkages in urban agriculture education programs. The study will recommend a curriculum design model to enhance the development of urban agriculture education programs.;This was a quantitative research study using descriptive survey methodology to describe curriculum and issues in urban agriculture education. The study also predicts "what will be" giving it the potential to be more useful to urban agriculture education stakeholders.;Data were collected at the 1998 National Forum for Agriculture Education in Urban Schools. This forum is attended by stakeholders involved with urban agriculture education programs. The stakeholders identified the importance of agriculture education curriculum currently being taught and the importance of the same curriculum areas in five years and how the curriculum will be taught.;The major conclusions of this study indicated that biotechnology, environmental science, and food science are cutting edge curriculum areas perceived to increase in importance in the next five years. The curriculum areas of farm management and agriculture mechanics will decrease in importance in the next five years. The most important curriculum area taught currently and also in five years is leadership. In the future, curriculum areas will be more integrated and hands-on learning will be emphasized. Urban agriculture education programs should emphasize communications, decision making skills, professional development, information management, and the global dimensions of agriculture.;Recommendations were to prepare teachers on how to teach integrated curriculum areas including cutting edge curriculum areas. Teachers will be provided with the knowledge and skills needed to improve program linkages. Teachers will be taught to use the proposed model to develop curriculum. Teachers will be encouraged to work with their school administrators when testing the curriculum model as it may benefit other subject matter areas in the school. |
