Maine team attends
agriscience institute
JOHNSTON, Iowa – Thirty state education officials and agriculture teacher leaders from 10 states attended the second annual National Agriscience Integration Institute (NAII) June 27-July 1. NAII is designed to promote and enhance inquiry-based science in environmental and agricultural education programs while supporting students to attain science and national agriculture content standards.

MAINE TEAM – Thirty state education officials and agriculture teacher leaders from 10 states attended the second annual National Agriscience Integration Institute (NAII) June 27-July 1 in Johnston, Iowa. NAII is designed to promote and enhance inquiry-based science in environmental and agricultural education programs while supporting students to attain science and national agriculture content standards. Pictured are members of the Maine team, from left: Linda Jones (Fort Fairfield Middle High School), Jennifer Morin (Central Aroostook High School) and Linnea Matthews (Mount Blue Middle School).
NAII, sponsored by DuPont and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., a DuPont business, is a special project of the National FFA Foundation.
“Science, agriculture and DuPont is a natural association,” said James C. Borel, executive vice president and a member of the DuPont Office of the Chief Executive, responsible for DuPont Crop Protection and Pioneer Hi-Bred. “We are thrilled to host this annual NAII conference with Pioneer. This is the 62nd year that DuPont has been actively associated with the FFA. I am pleased that DuPont and the FFA can join forces to sponsor NAII for agriculture teachers across the United States.”
The first goal of the program is to better integrate inquiry-based instruction into agriscience programs.
“Using a hands-on real-life approach to learning science with agriculture as the content sets this program apart from any other. Our second goal is to bring together a team of higher education faculty and state leadership along with our agriscience teachers to create a plan for inquiry based programs in their state,” said Larry Gossen, NAII manager and senior team leader for state relations with the National FFA. “The NAII hosts 10 states annually, utilizing the team agriculture education concept.”
New at this year’s Institute was The Collaboration Game, developed by David Briggs, founder of The Inside Out Partnership Ltd., based in the United Kingdom. The Collaboration Game is a business simulation game designed to raise awareness of the competing priorities and interdependencies facing any system or organization. In playing the game, participants experienced the realities of how competition, collaboration, conversation and relationships impact their abilities in attracting or loosing student interest in agriscience and holding on to important business relationships and investments in agriscience education.
NAII is an extension of the National Agriscience Teacher Ambassador Academy (NATAA) held annually in July at the DuPont-owned Chesapeake Farms, in Chestertown, Md. The Academy is a professional development program where agriculture teachers learn new inquiry-based teaching techniques to improve science learning which is reflected by improved performance in standardized science test scores of the students. All NATAA ambassadors are invited to be a part of NAII training when their state is invited.
Three or more persons make up a state team, including at least one agriscience teacher ambassador, a teacher educator, and a state education staff person. Because of the size of the teams and the customized approach of the program, a maximum of 10 state teams are accepted each year. It is hoped that agriculture teachers and state education officials from all 50 states will be covered in the next five years. Teams from Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mississippi, Arizona, Maine, Virginia, Rhode Island, Alabama, Kentucky and New Jersey attended the 2010 program.
Maine’s team was comprised of Linda Jones (Fort Fairfield Middle High School), Jennifer Morin (Central Aroostook High School) and Linnea Matthews (Mount Blue Middle School).