Brent Young, assistant professor in the School of Education, co-wrote an article that was named Outstanding Article for volume 58 of the Journal of the Southern Agricultural Education Research. The title of the article is “Effects of a Math-enhanced Curriculum and Instructional Approach on Students’ Achievement in Mathematics: A Year-long Experimental Study in Agricultural Power and Technology.”

The purpose of the study was to test the idea that students who participated in a mathematics-enhanced high school agricultural power and technology curriculum and aligned instructional approach that included intensive teacher professional development would develop a deeper and more sustained understanding of selected mathematics concepts than those students who participated in the traditional curriculum and instruction.

The study included teachers and students from 32 high schools in Oklahoma. Students were enrolled in an agricultural power and technology course during the 2004-05 school year.

According to Young, the level of students’ achievement, measured by a traditional mathematics test, revealed results that held practical significance and supported the use of the experimental treatment.

Young joined the faculty at NDSU in 2006. He focuses his research on building academic skills in the context of career and technical education and the student teaching experience. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in agricultural and extension education.

This is the second time in three years that Young’s work has been named the outstanding article by the Journal of the Southern Agricultural Education Research. His recent awards in research include the 2008 Exceptional Contributions to Research award from the NDSU College of Human Development and Education, the 2007 Outstanding Research Paper Presentation from the American Association for Agricultural Education Research and the 2007 Exceptional Contributions as an Emerging Researcher from the NDSU College of Human Development and Education.