Impact of a poultry education program on elementary students' knowledge and interest

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science Education
• Veterinary Entomology
• Animal Virology

Background:

• Elementary students often lack agricultural literacy and science interest.
• Effective educational interventions are needed to bridge this gap.
• The Poultry and Animal Virus Education (PAVE) program was developed to address these needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the PAVE program on agricultural literacy, content knowledge, and science interest in elementary students.
• To assess the effectiveness of online modules combined with hands-on projects.
• To identify factors influencing student engagement and knowledge retention.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental design involving 111 elementary students.
• Baseline (T1), post-module (T2), and post-project (T3) assessments using Likert-scale instruments.
• Measurement of agricultural literacy, content knowledge, individual interest, and situational interest.

Main Results:

• Content knowledge scores remained stable from baseline to post-module assessment.
• Individual interest showed no significant change, while situational interest increased modestly.
• Students with lower baseline agricultural knowledge scored lower on content measures.

Conclusions:

• Online interventions can support content understanding in agricultural science.
• Sustaining individual interest requires integrating reflection, relevance, and teacher facilitation.
• The PAVE program demonstrates potential but needs enhancements for deeper engagement.