| PROJECT SUMMARY |
This project was Phase 2, of a three year project. Phase 1 focused toward creation of a pilot version of an on-line, production agriculture focused , simulation activity geared toward high school juniors and seniors. Other elements of the site were designed to help students decide if an agriculture career was the right choice for them, and if so, guide them to access resources in the area of risk management. The overall goal of the project is finalization of an age appropriate, on-line production agriculture simulation, with easy access and probability of use by youth, through County Extension Agents and Ag Science Teachers. Phase 2 included enhancing the site to include the capability of simulating over multiple years and multiple commodities, as well as scenarios which build on risk choices made by the youth. The site teaches the concept of how risk and management decisions interact thus impacting the probability for behavior changes. During Phase II our project group realized that we needed to develop on-line teaching lessons to support the website. We submitted another proprosal for phase 3 which developed lesson plans to support the site.
The lesson plans were developed and are currently at Agricultural Communications being edited and formatted. They are also developing our promotional flyer ( the lesson plans and promotional flyer are part of year 3 of this project).
Texas 4-H is also developing these as a packaged program that will include a model program plan in the TExAS reporting system as well as the other components: Curriculum, promotional brochure, evaluation piece.
The simulation is currently live at http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/realworld/realworld_v025.html
We made the decision to delay the state wide announcement and regional announcement until the lesson plans are finished and available for County Extension Agents and Ag Science Teachers to use in teaching Risk Management Concepts to high school age youth. We envision them focusing on a stong push in the Spring of 2008. The delay has affected our project steps and targets- especially the area surrounding affirmation of evaluation and outcomes. As was reported earlier, the project has not been officially announced - some of the milestones associated with our original intent have not been met and the specific outcome targets were not realized during this phase - we will see them following the conclusion of our year 3 project. |
| NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 1300 |
| TOPICS COVERED |
| Insurance products |
| Product and enterprise diversification |
| Market analysis and outlook |
| Contract production, branded or certified marketing, and value-added enterprises |
| Capital and financial assets |
| Credit |
| Understanding of economic risks associated with new production technologies |
| Business and strategic planning |
