Overview

Travis Park is a professional agricultural science teacher educator. He focuses his teaching on the implementation of experiential learning in agriculture and leadership and on content area reading and literacy. Travis is an active member of the CALS Department of Education, as well as a productive contributor to the agricultural education profession.

Research Focus

Dr. Park's research focuses on instructional methods whereby students comprehend text to a deeper level, create meaning in our text-rich world, and apply that meaning to solve real agricultural problems. He is currently researching an effective package of instructional strategies to assist struggling readers in agricultural science education. Further, his research interests also include the impact of individual teachers upon their students' performance and the quality of the overall agricultural science education program.

Instruction Focus

Dr. Park's instructional focus is two-fold. One course focuses on the implementation of experiential learning in agriculture and leadership through both general youth organizations and specifically the National FFA Organization. The other course develops pre-service teachers' awareness the importance of literacy in the content area and the application of content area reading in order to help all students learn more effectively.

Additional Links

• Link to CALS Research portal
• Link to CALS Impact statements

Honors, Awards and Appointments

• University of Florida - Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, Outstanding Graduate Student - 2005
• NACTA Graduate Teaching Award - 2005
• University of Florida, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant - 2004

Selected Publications

• Park, T.D., & Osborne, E. (2007). A model for the study of reading in school-based agricultural education. Journal of Agricultural Education, 48(1), 13-23.
• Park, T. D., & Osborne, E. (2006). Agriscience teachers' attitudes toward implementation of content area reading strategies. Journal of Agricultural Education, 47(4), 39-51.
• Park, T. D., & Osborne, E. (2006). Content area reading strategies and textbook use in agricultural education. Journal of Agricultural Education, 47(4), 1-14.
• Park, T. D., & Osborne, E. (2005). Process and product variables for the study of reading in secondary agriscience. Journal of Agricultural Education, 46(3), 11-21.
• Park, T. D., & Rudd, R. R. (2005). A description of the characteristics attributed to students' decisions to teach agriscience. Journal of Agricultural Education, 46(3), 81-93.

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