Student Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes for the natural resources program

• Students will understand the factors affecting the need to find sustainable practices for production of food, feed and fiber crops and how to implement and evaluate them.
• Students will understand how the environment influences plant growth and crop yields, and ways to modify the environment to improve plant growth and yields.
• Students will understand how to propagate, plant, and sustainably grow, manage and harvest fruit, vegetable, grain and/or forage crops within various environmental, marketing and financial conditions.
• Students will be able to identify soil types and how they are formed and ways to modify soil structure and drainage to reduce erosion and improve water quality and water availability to plants.
• Students will understand how soil fertility is determined and how plant nutrient deficiencies are identified, and means of improving soil fertility and adding nutrients for plant growth.
• Students will be able to recognize how soil type and topography affects recommended agricultural, commercial and residential use and water quality at varying locations.
• Students will understand how to identify and sustainably manage plant diseases in various production systems.
• Students will understand how to identify and sustainably manage insects in various plant production systems.
• Students will understand how to identify weeds and sustainably manage them in various plant production systems.
• Students will understand the basic concepts, compounds and reactions occurring in organic and biochemical systems, particularly as related to the environment, plants and food crops.
• Students will understand the basic principles of livestock production.
• Students will understand the basic concepts of laws pertaining to agriculture and/or evaluation of land use for various agricultural practices.
• Students will be able to apply knowledge to solve problems related to crop production and plant growth.
• Students will having a greater knowledge of how natural resources relate to the economy and environment, both currently and in the future.
• Students will be able to critically evaluate current events and public information related to natural resources as being scientifically-based or opinion-based and contribute to the knowledge base of information.
• Students will work with others to coordinate activities to achieve group/team objectives.
• Students will be able to write in a style appropriate for technical or informative publications for various audiences related to natural resources.
• Students will have supervised, hands-on work experience related to natural resources.