Details for Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary
Description
Teach courses in the agricultural sciences. Includes teachers of agronomy, dairy sciences, fisheries management, horticultural sciences, poultry sciences, range management, and agricultural soil conservation.
Tasks
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory work, assignments, and papers.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as crop production, plant genetics, and soil chemistry.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
- Supervise laboratory sessions and field work and coordinate laboratory operations.
- Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
- Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, and course materials and methods of instruction.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
- Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.
- Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
- Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
- Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.
- Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks and laboratory equipment.
- Act as advisers to student organizations.
- Participate in campus and community events.
- Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
- Provide professional consulting services to government or industry.
- Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.
- Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
Interests
- Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
- Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
- Social - Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Education, training, experience
- Education - Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
- Training - Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
- Experience - Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Knowledge
- Physics -Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.
- Economics and Accounting -Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Public Safety and Security -Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Administration and Management -Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Communications and Media -Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Computers and Electronics -Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Mathematics -Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- English Language -Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Biology -Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Education and Training -Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Skills
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
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