Journal of the NACAA
ISSN 2158-9429
Volume 5, Issue 1 - May, 2012

Developing Project and Life Skills Through Animal Science 4-H Projects

Introduction

Youth development is the mission of the 4-H program and allows individuals to acquire project knowledge and life skills which enable them to become productive citizens. Projects are a major curriculum emphasis in 4-H.  From 1912 to today, projects have diversified from the basic corn, pigs, tomatoes, flowers, sewing and canning topics to more than 100 project areas.  Though 4-H has expanded its educational initiatives beyond agriculture and farm based educational projects, agricultural science projects and programming still remain a mainstream 4-H activity and provide a focus for county fairs and 4-H competitions. Extension personnel, parents, and youth often credit agricultural science projects and programming with teaching life and project skills.  As stakeholders, legislators, and administrators want verifiable evidence of impacts, success stories and testimonials are no longer sufficient.  There is a programmatic need for evidence that these agricultural science projects and activities develop project and life skills in the youth participants (McKee, Talbert & Barkman, 2002; Mincemoyer & Corbin, 2001; Schlink, 2000).

 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of participation in 4-H projects such as beef, dog, and veterinary science on the development of life skills.  What influence does 4-H animal/veterinary science projects have on participant’s development of life skills? Does the impact differ by gender or whether participants were raised on a farm or non-farm. Does involvement as a 4-H club officer, community service activities, 4-H camp impact participant development of life skills? Findings may be to determine if changes need to be made to 4-H project materials or 4-H leader and agent training to enhance project and life skills development for 4-H members.

 Research Design

A descriptive research design in the form of a mailed questionnaire was used to determine the impact of participation in 4-H projects such as beef, dog, and veterinary science on the development of life skills. The questionnaire was mailed to 275 participants who were randomly selected from the 1069 4-H youth enrolled in one or more of the beef, dog, or veterinary science projects statewide.  These projects were chosen since beef has the largest project enrollment and the dog and veterinary sciences projects have a resource development relationship with West Virginia University.  Ninety-five respondents (36.3%) returned completed questionnaires.

Non-response error was addressed by comparing early respondents to late respondents (Ary et al., 2006).  A chi-square test of independence was performed to determine if there was a significant relationship between early and late respondents on gender, years in 4-H, residence, ethnicity, years involved in 4-H animal and veterinary science projects, participation as a club officer, involvement in 4-H camping program and community service.  The chi-square values were not significant (α ≤ .05).  It was concluded that non-respondents were similar to respondents; therefore generalizations could be made to the entire population.  However, with a response rate of 36.3% generalizations will be limited to the respondents.

 Instrument

The instrument consisted of questions relating to involvement in 4-H projects and activities, project and life skills developed and demographic information.  The questionnaire was presented to a panel of experts to establish content and face validity.  The reliability of the instrument was determined to be exemplary with Spearman-Brown coefficient of .87 (Robinson, Shaver, & Wrightsman, 1991).

Dillman’s (2000) Tailored Design Method was used during each phase of data collection to maximize returns.  This included initial mailing, follow-up postcard and a second complete mailing.

Findings

Thirty-three of the respondents (35.9%) were males and 59 respondents (64.1%) were female.  Fifty-four of the respondents (60%) indicated that they lived on a farm, while thirty-six respondents (40%) indicated that they did not live on a farm.  

The number of years respondents had been in 4-H were reported in Table 1.  The highest response rate was from respondents who had been in 4-H four years, followed by those who had been members for nine years.

Years Respondents were in 4-H

 Involvement in 4-H Activities

Seventy-two respondents (77.4%) indicated that they had been a 4-H club officer.  Of the respondents, 46 (49.5%) reported they had participated in the 4-H camping program, while 78 (83.9%) individuals reported participating in a community service activity.  Forty (43.0%) respondents indicated that they had been involved in a public speaking contest and 40 (43.0%) individuals responded that they had participated in state 4-H contests (see Table 2).

 Table 2

 Respondents Involvement in 4-H Activities

Respondents indicated that participation in a 4-H animal/veterinary science projecthad a strong influence on all eight categories of project and life skills development.  A Likert scale was used to interpret the scores: 1.0 -1.5 no influence, 1.6 – 2.5 slight influence, 2.6 -3.5 moderate influence, 3.6-4.5 strong influence, and 4.6-5.0 significant influence.  Participation in a 4-H animal/veterinary science project had a strong influence on decision making, ability to relate to other youth, ability to relate to adults, maintain records, public speaking, give positive self-esteem, help accept leadership roles, and help accept responsibility (see Table 3).

Skills/Knowledge Learned From Participation in 4-H Animal/Veterinary Science Projects

Respondents expressed agreement that learning occurred in all 32 categories of project and life skills as a result of participation in their 4-H animal/veterinary science projects.  Over 90 percent of the respondents agreed that they learned to be friends with people who are different from them, follow instructions, accept responsibility for a job, have some control over events in their life, understand what was required for a successful 4-H project, set goals, how to make decisions, the value and importance of ethics, how to select an animal, how to feed an animal, how to practice safety around animals, how to care for an animal, and how to keep an animal healthy (see Table 4). 

Between 85 and 90 percent of the respondents learned to accept different opinions, value contributions of others, gained self-confidence, how to help others, how to groom an animal for show, and how to determine the cost of raising an animal. Between 80 and 85 percent of the respondents learned to help others reach their goals, solve problems that occur in their life, use time and money efficiently, not use illegal drugs or alcohol, feel comfortable saying no to things they don’t want to do, understand animal reproduction, how to show an animal, how to keep records and wanted to tell friends to enroll in a 4-H animal/veterinary science project.  Between 70 and 79 percent of the respondents learned to live a healthy lifestyle and about careers.  While 65 and 69 percent of the respondents learned to meet and work with other cultures and to give oral reasons (see Table 4).

 Table 3

Influence of 4-H Animal/Veterinary Science Project Participation on Life Skills Development²

² Likert Scale of 1-5 with 1 representing “No Influence” and 5 representing “Significant Influence”

Table 4

Skills/Knowledge Learned From Participation in 4-H Animal/Veterinary Science Projects¹ 

 ¹ Likert Scale of 1-5 with 1 representing “strongly disagree” and 5 representing “strongly agree”

Difference in Agreement by Gender.A t-test statistical procedure was used to determine if differences existed in the level of agreement when compared by gender.  One item was significant (α ≤ .05).  Females expressed greater agreement with the statement that they accept opinions different from their own, than males (see Table 5).