As the busy spring semester ended, members of the Lamm Lab packed their suitcases to kick off the summer conference season. Drs. Alexa Lamm, Millicent Oyugi, and Katie Sanders, along with doctoral student Allison Byrd, traveled to Guelph, Ontario, to present their research at the annual conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE).
Held each spring, AIAEE brings together scholars from across the world to tackle educational and extension questions in research, while encouraging collaboration between different countries and institutions.
With the support of Dr. Alexa Lamm, the Lamm Lab presented five oral abstracts and one poster at the across four conference days. Amidst the academic presentations, the crew enjoyed networking opportunities with fellow researchers, University of Guelph campus tours, an awards ceremony, and a tour of Canadian agri-food innovations. In the business meeting, Dr. Lamm also presented the update from the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, for which she serves as the past editor.
Read below about the research presented.
Determining if Country of Origin Impacts Pro-Environmental Behaviors Among Young Consumers to Inform Agricultural Communication Messages
Authors: Millicent A. Oyugi, Allison Byrd, Alexa J. Lamm, Kevan W. Lamm, & Sudarshan Adhikari
Dr. Millicent Oyugi presented a study comparing the green consumption values of undergraduate university students from three countries: Kenya, Nepal, and the United States. In a cross-sectional survey design, 563 respondents answered demographic questions and then responded to items the pre-established GREEN scale. Kenyan students were likely to be older than both the respondents from Nepal and the U.S. One-way Welch ANOVA analysis revealed students from Kenya and the United States had significantly higher scores on the GREEN scale than students in Nepal.
Congratulations to Dr. Oyugi who received a Postdoctoral Scholar Travel Award from The University of Georgia to aid her travel costs and participation at the at the 2023 AIAEE conference!
Exploring Science Communication Views of Leaders: A Case Study of a Global Coalition in an Evolving Agricultural Industry
Authors: Allison Byrd & Alexa Lamm
Allison Byrd presented a case study about the science communication views of a global organization seeking to educate the world about an up-and-coming crop. The study consisted of in-depth qualitative interviews with each of the leaders regarding their science communication goals and target audiences, along with an audit of their science communication practices. The case study found that strategic science communication goals and well-identified audiences may make it easier to target the consumers who need information the most.
Proposing an Identity-in-Context Framework for Culturally Responsive Evaluation: Implications for Cooperative Extension in Rural Areas
Authors: Catherine E. Sanders, Alexa Lamm, Abigail Borron, Jori Hall, Maria Navarro, & James Anderson
Katie Sanders presented work from her dissertation focused on developing a framework for using culturally responsive evaluation in rural communities. Her proposed framework, the Identity-in-Context framework, highlights the central role identity can play when working in communities. Sanders presented implications of implementing the framework for global Extension work, emphasizing the need for tools to help practitioners reflect on their identity in relation to the identities of program participants.
Congratulations to Dr. Sanders who received a Distinguished Paper award for her presentation at the conference!
Promoting Critical Thinking in Kenyan Undergraduate Students: Is the Critical Thinking Inventory the Right Tool?
Authors: Millicent A. Oyugi, Kristin E. Gibson, Alexa J. Lamm, & Miriam N. Kyule
Dr. Millicent Oyugi presented a study that examined if the proposed Critical Thinking Inventory (CTI) model structure was consistent with the set of observed variables in the Kenyan higher education system. Involving 563 respondents, the study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) through AMOS to determine the extent to which the critical thinking of undergraduates at Egerton university fit the CTI model. Model fitness was evaluated using various indices, including the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), and Chi-Square (ꭓ^2) Goodness of Fit. Construct validity, composite validity, and multiple squared correlations (R^2) were also assessed. The findings indicated that the hypothesized measurement model of the CTI was inadequate in assessing critical thinking styles among undergraduate students at Egerton University. Therefore, future research should aim to validate the CTI using a larger sample size and conduct further studies focused on developing a valid instrument for measuring the critical thinking skills of undergraduate students in Kenya.
Explicating the Relationship Between Undergraduate Students’ Critical Thinking Styles and Country of Origin
Authors: Millicent A. Oyugi, Alexa J. Lamm, Kevan W. Lamm, Sudarshan Adhikari, & Ram H. Timilsina
Dr. Millicent Oyugi conducted a study aiming to differentiate undergraduate students from the United States, Nepal, and Kenya based on their critical thinking styles. Following a cross-sectional survey design, 563 participants responded to selected demographic questions and the Critical Thinking Inventory (CTI1) consisting of 20 Likert-type items measured from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). The descriptive statistics revealed that students from the United States displayed higher levels of the engaging style, whereas Nepalese students demonstrated a greater inclination toward the seeking style. On the other hand, Kenyan students reported a balanced combination of engaging and seeking styles. A discriminant analysis was significant (p < .05), yielded discriminant functions, and revealed that engaging and seeking styles are significant dimensions of critical thinking that respondents’ country of origin can distinguish above chance occurrence.
How cultural dimensions influence communicating with prospective agricultural and environmental science graduate students
Authors: Allison R. Byrd, Catherine E. Sanders, Alexa J. Lamm
The authors presented a poster on preliminary research into the communication preferences of prospective graduate researchers when searching for a graduate program in a college of agricultural and environmental sciences. In this study, the researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with both domestic and international students from a U.S. land grant university and qualitatively analyzed the communication preferences of those from more individualist and more collectivist cultures according to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
