98 Using youth hippology contest results as a needs assessment as a framework for a train the trainer program

Abstract

Abstract Land-Grant Institutions and Cooperative Extension Services seek to disseminate science-based information to the general public and strive to develop the next generation of agriculturists. Extension agents across Tennessee implement youth and adult educational programs to build the knowledge and skill sets of producers and youth. However, Extension agents differ in areas of expertise, leaving some counties with minimal ability to provide 4-H horse project members with sufficient content knowledge while agents in other counties are more well versed in equine-specific areas. Youth (n = 224) competed in the 2021 regional 4-H Hippology contest across the Eastern (n = 59), Central (n = 93), and Western (n = 72) regions. Youth competed within their age divisions, where junior (grades 4 and 5, k=60 where k represents number of participants within each age division), junior high (grades 6 to 8, k = 100), and senior (grades 9 to 12, k = 100) divisions competed in written exam and slide identification phases. Contest scores from the Tennessee regional and Eastern National 4-H Hippology contests were used to determine areas of knowledge deficiency. Nutrition, tack, selection, health, and breeds were categories identified as areas in which 4th – 12th grade youth lacked adequate knowledge and a training program and new curriculum was developed and delivered to county extension agents. Statistical analysis was conducted using SAS v9.4 (Cary, NC). Differences were found when comparing across question category (P < 0.0001), age group (P < 0.0001), and year (P < 0.0001). Nutrition questions were most often missed by senior and junior high youth (k = 7.8, 51.94%; k = 7.5, 44.22%) whereas junior youth missed training questions most frequently (k = 4.9, 54.14%). Of the 5 deficient topic areas, selection questions were the lowest percentage missed by senior and junior high youth (k =5.9, 36.81%; k = 7.1, 39.53%) whereas junior youth missed health questions least frequently (k = 4, 39.87%). It was found that training status had no significant on scores from year to year (P >0.05). Despite the lack of training effect, these findings still prove valuable when assessing performance upholding the extension mission of delivering science-based information to the next generation of industry professionals.