Agricultural Learning As A Developmental Mechanism: Environmental Structuring, Self-Regulation, And Engagement In Older Adolescents
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/ajpr.v29i1.901Keywords:
Agricultural learning, self-regulation, older adolescents, engagement, phenomenology, environmental structuring.Abstract
Agricultural learning opportunities are being increasingly leveraged to impact youth development. However, little attention has been paid to unpacking agricultural learning as a developmental mechanism that can promote self-regulation and engagement. This study aims to understand how older adolescents experience agricultural learning contexts as situations in which young people learn to pay attention, think critically, regulate emotions, and engage with others. This qualitative phenomenological study examines the lived experiences of older adolescents involved in agriculture or garden-based learning and how this context cultivates agency and engagement through experiential features such as structure, work/play tasks, peer-group interactions, and adult scaffolding. Literature from four areas will be reviewed: agricultural education research, positive youth development theory, self-regulated learning literature, and adolescent research on engagement. Self-regulation theory is largely absent from agricultural education research, as most programmes are developed and evaluated with external outcomes like civic knowledge, psychosocial outcomes, or skill-based behaviors in mind. This paper begins to address this gap by proposing that agricultural learning may serve as a systematic, yet situation-specific pathway by which older adolescents learn to become agentic, competent, reflective, and engaged youth.
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