Finding an agricultural science curriculum may seem easy for today’s educators due to the diverse amount of options out there. The real challenge is exploring each option to ensure your choice in curriculum is the best possible fit for your student's needs and instructional goals.
As a passionate provider of agricultural science resources, we often hear agricultural science teachers ask about Curriculum for Agriculture Science Education (CASE), a popular choice for many agricultural science classrooms.
In this article, explore an in-depth review of CASE’s agricultural science curriculum including:
- What is CASE Curriculum?
- What Courses Does CASE Offer?
- What Are the Advantages of CASE Curriculum?
- What Are the Disadvantages of CASE Curriculum?
- Who is CASE’s Agricultural Science Curriculum Intended For?
After reading this article, you’ll have a better understanding of what CASE offers and if it’s the right fit for your students.
What is CASE Curriculum?
CASE is an instructional system that provides training and materials exclusively for agricultural education. They make it their mission to impact student career readiness by empowering teachers with improved instructional practices and relevant curricula sustained by professional development.
What Courses Does CASE Offer?
CASE offers 13 comprehensive agricultural science courses including:
- AgXplore Middle School
- Ag, Food, & Natural Resources
- Agricultural Business Foundations
- Animal Science
- Plant Science
- Natural Resources & Ecology
- Environmental Science Issues
- Food Science & Safety
- Animal & Plant Biotechnology
- Agricultural Power & Technology
- Ag Equipment Maintenance & Technology
- Small Gas Engines
- Agricultural Research & Development
Having the appropriate course offerings is just the beginning when it comes to choosing the best agriculture science curriculum for your students. The next factor to consider when making a decision is whether the curriculum will meet your student's needs and your instructional goals.
Who is CASE’s Agriculture Science Curriculum Intended For?
CASE offers 12 high school agricultural science courses designed for grades 9-12 and one middle school course, AgXplore.
If you’re looking for an in-depth, structured curriculum solution focused on hands-on learning, CASE’s agriculture science curriculum might be a good choice for your students.
On the other hand, if you’re searching for a flexible, easily implemented curriculum for multiple courses, CASE may not be the best choice.
A lot of factors go into your decision on the best curriculum option for your students. While ensuring your students are the intended audience of CASE’s curriculum is necessary in your search, the next step is weighing the advantages and disadvantages of choosing CASE’s curriculum.
What Are the Advantages of CASE Curriculum?
Every curriculum option has its own unique advantages and disadvantages when it comes to how well the curriculum meets the unique needs of your classroom. In this section, you’ll discover the main advantages of implementing CASE curriculum.
Hands-on Learning
A significant strength of CASE’s curriculum is that every course is based around offering students hands-on experience to develop valuable knowledge and skills relevant to their chosen area of study.
CASE’s courses are composed of foundational instruction to develop essential knowledge to support the hands-on components of the curriculum. After completing foundational instruction, students engage in a wide variety of hands-on experiences, including research projects, laboratory work and career exploration.
As the focal point of each lesson and course CASE offers, the hands-on learning opportunities available sets this curriculum apart.
Professional Development
To receive curriculum and materials from CASE, teachers must first attend one of their in-person Professional Development (PD) experiences and become certified to effectively implement CASE curriculum. CASE offers two different PD experiences depending on the course length you wish to implement.
The first PD opportunity available is the CASE Institute, a 5-10 day training experience designed for CASE’s year-long courses. BriefCASE’s are the other PD experience offered in which teachers must complete 10 hours of in-person training. BriefCASE’s are intended for CASE’s 9-week course curriculums. Lodging and meals are provided.
Once an educator has successfully been certified to teach CASE curriculum, they have life-time access to the curriculum and materials.
Well-Organized
For a teacher in search of a highly structured curriculum that provides support for students as they learn and guidance for educators as they teach, CASE offers well-organized materials.
CASE’s curriculum is highly structured in that courses are meant to be taught throughout a student’s high school experience, the more advanced courses building on concepts and skills learned in introductory courses.
Well-organized curriculum makes it easier for teachers to spend less time planning for class and more time intentionally engaging students in their learning.
While knowing the advantages of a curriculum is beneficial in your search for the best curriculum for your students, knowing the disadvantages can help you make an even more informed decision.
What Are the Disadvantages of CASE Curriculum?
In this section, you’ll discover three main disadvantages of implementing CASE curriculum.
Price
As stated above, teachers looking to implement CASE curriculum will first be required to attend a CASE Institute or BriefCASE training to learn how to use the curriculum.
The price of CASE curriculum varies depending on the training you attend as the training and curriculum is one combined price. One- to two-day BriefCASE training events will cost districts anywhere from $250-$1,000, while 5-10 day CASE Institute events will cost $2,500-$3,500.
There is no bundle pricing for teachers interested in more than one course, making it more expensive to implement more than one of CASE’s courses.
Trainings
Once an educator has attended and successfully been certified at one of CASE’s training events, the educator has life-time access to the curriculum they were trained to use.
The issue arises when an educator is looking to implement multiple courses as the training events are rigorous and a large time commitment. For teachers who often find it hard to be away from the classroom or their families for extended periods of time, this option may not be the best fit.
While the price of the curriculum and training is a one-time fee, teachers looking to implement more than one course may be looking at a multiple-week commitment to traveling to and attending the mandatory training events.
Inflexibility
While structure is a necessary facet of quality curriculum, too much structure can make it difficult to differentiate learning or tailor lessons and activities to meet your student's needs more effectively.
The ability to pivot in response to the needs of your students is a must in today’s modern agricultural science classrooms. While the instructional materials and student coursework are well designed, the one-size fits all approach of CASE curriculum could likely leave students unengaged or left behind.
Is CASE Agriculture Curriculum the Right Fit for Your Students?
With all of the agricultural science curriculum options out there, it can be overwhelming to decide which one will serve your students best. You have a lot to consider from course offerings and intended audience to the advantages and disadvantages of each curriculum..
In your search for the best agricultural science curriculum for your students, it’s important to investigate every facet of a curriculum option to make the most informed decision.
Whether you’re feeling unsure that CASE is the right fit for your students or if you’re just wanting to look into other options, it’s always a good idea to check out multiple curriculums to find the absolute best match for your students.
Now that you know more about CASE’s curriculum and how it might fit into your classroom, discover answers to common questions agricultural science teachers ask when comparing iCEV .vs. CASE agriculture science curriculum.
