How Pre-Service Agricultural Education Teachers Plan to Integrate STEM Competencies in their Lessons

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has become increasingly important. Ill-prepared secondary school graduates, along with increased demand for qualified STEM employees, sparked a plethora of STEM integration research. This study's purpose was to determine the extent to which pre-service teachers in agricultural education at Oklahoma State University planned to incorporate STEM content into their agricultural education lesson plans. Experienced educators in the respective STEM areas evaluated lesson plans from each participant for their STEM content. Of the four content areas, science and technology were integrated into lesson plans most frequently. Although, science, engineering, and math integration in pre-service teacher lesson plans decreased from the 2011-2012 group to the 2019-2020 group, technology standards showed an increase in agricultural education lesson plans. To further understand the STEM integration within agricultural education, it is recommended that pre-service teachers crosswalk agricultural course standards with STEM standards.