School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers’ Intentions to Use Equipment with Flesh-Sensing Safety Technology

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to describe school-based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers’ experiences, perceptions, and intentions to use flesh-sensing safety technology (FSST) in SBAE laboratory-based instruction. As emerging technology creates new tools and teaching instruments, SBAE teachers can use this new technology to help reduce student injuries and anxiety associated found with using laboratory equipment. A national probabilistic sample was used and a total of 83 SBAE teachers responded to our survey. The Carpentry laboratory was the most commonly (f =17; 20.5%) used laboratory for FSST equipment. One quarter (25.3%) of our sample were currently using FSST in their programs and as many as 30 injuries have been prevented via FSST. Overall, the teachers indicated an average of 92.4 (SD = 15.8) in the agreement of implementing FSST equipment into their programs. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended to incorporate multiple types of FSST equipment into secondary agricultural education programs to help reduce student injuries and increase teacher retention. Furthermore, it is recommended pre-service teachers be introduced to, and receive training on equipment with FSST while in their teacher prep program. It is also recommended that universities, stakeholders, and state-level agricultural education / FFA staff members seek out resources to equip agricultural education programs with FSST equipment. Further research should be conducted to discover what barriers lie in the way for SBAE programs to obtain equipment with FSST, and what FSST equipment is in development for consumers.