School agricultural learning center for sustainable agricultural learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the learning achievements and skills in agricultural practices between students who learned through the School Agricultural Learning Center (SALC) and those who learned in the normal classroom. Participants were 150 Thai high school students in grade 12 recruited by purposive sampling. The study included three steps: 1) Investigation of basic data for developing the SALC, 2) Establishment and development of the SALC, and 3) Use of the SALC for learning: Facebook and Line were employed as the channels for knowledge exchange, communication on learning activities holding and activities transfer. A posttest-only control group design was employed. The results revealed that the students who learned through the SALC exhibited significantly (p < 0.01) higher learning achievements and skills in agricultural practices than those who learned in the normal classroom. Our findings suggest that the SALC is pivotal for improving the students' learning achievements and skills in agriculture and should be promoted to become a natural part of sustainable agriculture education.