4-H

4-H Livestock judging is a great program opportunity where youth can strengthen their decision-making abilities, grow communication skills, and develop sound critical thinking and articulate reasoning. Youth that excel in livestock judging cultivate an ethic of research, practice, and work hard to communicate clearly and concisely to judges and peers. Livestock judging is a competitive event centered around the visual evaluation of an animal’s physical traits and at times performance data. The goal is to compare and contrast four animals in a class against each other as well as the “ideal” animal.

Preparing for a project meeting on any topic within our many 4-H Project Areas takes time and effort. Even if you are using a 4-H curriculum with pre-written lesson plans (and there is curriculum available for a wide range of subjects), at the very least you should read through the lesson plan (review both the leader guide and the member guide) so you can gather together the materials needed for the meeting and be familiar with the activities included.

4-H volunteers with increased awareness of their role in fostering STEM education and STEM literacy can be a valuable resource in preparing 4-H youth with STEM-ready professional skills. Keeping in mind eight questions can help 4-H project leaders center 4-H member learning and improve 4-H member STEM literacy. 4-H volunteers can add the ISI approach to the ‘Do. Reflect. Apply’ strategy to design 4-H project activities within nontraditionally STEM-related 4-H projects for members to develop STEM literacy. The ISI approach puts both the 4-H volunteer and member in the role of learner. Volunteers and members can be assisting each other in building STEM skills into their current projects.

As new UACE 4-H youth development professionals you enter the organization with diverse preparation experiences, thus many professionals are unclear what the skills, competencies, and expectations are to be successful in the organization. Onboarding is an opportunity for the organization to help you maximize your contributions while also learning our organizational culture.

4-H youth development professionals are at a high-risk of burnout. Contributing factors leading to departure include organizational factors, such as a lack of professional development opportunities and adequate training. Extension professionals experience many challenges, such as stress, long hours, and turnover. To prevent burnout and turnover we recognize training is important especially at the beginning of a career.

A systematic review of 4-H onboarding curriculum across the country was conducted to inform the development of a 4-H Extension professional onboarding process for county-based 4-H youth development professionals. As a result of this systematic review a blended approach6 to onboarding was adopted to facilitate technical knowledge, relationship building, and enhance understanding of organizational culture.

The Floating Farm is a project designed to teach youth and adults about augmented reality. Augmented reality is a technology that places virtual objects and features onto a physical surface using a camera. Students learn its history and the basics of AR. Youth will create a virtual farm using free software; Unity, Tinkercad, and Vuforia. At the conclusion of the project youth will host their work online and share with family, friends and peers.

From humble beginnings as an experimental workshop series, the Floating Farm has grown to now provide instruction via facilitator/student guide, online video tutorials, as well as scheduled virtual workshops training sessions through our online website.This project is aimed at making augmented reality more accessible. Whether one decides to use AR in their class- room, for a school project, or just for fun we hope you have a better understanding of the resources used to create an AR experience. The photos below are samples of student work.

Reporting is necessary for program evaluation and for ensuring Arizona Cooperative Extension is serving the citizens of the state. These two distinct purposes are mutually beneficial, and they are predicated on accuracy of the data reported. With more accurate numbers, we are able to understand the reach and quality of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension 4-H youth development programming more clearly.

Different than other program areas, 4-H Youth Development has two data management systems.This adds unique confusion on how to report impact numbers. This guide is an effort to help reduce confusion. To ensure county-based professionals, administrators, and legislators can confidently state the number of youths served by Cooperative Extension, we must be clear in our reporting procedure.

The goal of the Experiential Learning model is to support 4-H youth to achieve Mastery in their project content and in life skills. Intentional reflection is essential for turning activity into learning. Member Project Record and Member’s 4-H Record books are tools to support the Experiential Learning Model (i.e. set goals, document what was accomplished and create intentional reflection).

When a 4-H youth member joins 4-H, a common first question is “How do I do it?” or “How am I successful?” The objective of The Great Eight: Arizona 4-H Pathways of Participation for Thriving is to explain to 4-H youth members and their caring adults the 4-H goals and how to support youth to achieve those goals over time. The Arizona 4-H program has identified eight specific pathways: Agriculture, Camping, Civic Engagement, Community Service, Cultural Understanding, Healthy Living, Leadership, and STEM. A 4-H youth member can work towards thriving by focusing on one pathway, yet, the hope is a youth will have high-quality experiences in all pathways.

Las pelotas de semillas encapsulan las semillas en una mezcla (a menudo arcilla y materia orgánica rica en nutrientes como el abono, el humus o el carbón) que reducirá potencialmente la depredación de insectos y roedores, a la vez que facilitará una mayor retención de agua y el contacto de las semillas con la tierra.

Las pelotas de semillas son un antiguo método para la siembra de semillas, y son especialmente útiles en zonas de tierra compacta o seca. Las pelotas de semillas se dispersan en el sitio deseado (sin necesidad de preparar la tierra) y permanecen inactivas hasta que llegan lluvias fuertes, disolviendo la arcilla y permitiendo que las semillas germinen.

La elaboración de las pelotas de semillas a mano requiere mucho tiempo y trabajo. Para hacer grandes cantidades de pelotas de semillas en un tiempo razonable, hemos construido una máquina peloteadora de semillas impulsada por una bicicleta, que cubre eficazmente las semillas con arcilla y materiales de abono. Está diseñada para que se pueda desmontar fácilmente para ser almacenada o transportada, de modo que cada componente encaje con los otros sin tener que atornillarlos. La bicicleta hace girar un barril que contiene las semillas y los materiales para cubrirlas, mientras se rocía periódicamente el contenido con agua. El resultado son pelotas de semillas cubiertas que pueden utilizarse para la restauración o la jardinería doméstica. Aquí explicamos cómo construir la máquina peloteadora de semillas.

This tool is designed to do three things: (1) provide an overview for youth development professionals to better understand Indigenous groups in their area, (2) provide some basic resources for program evaluation with tribal communities, and (3) provide a site/program level assessment tool to critique the cultural inclusiveness and relevance of programming initiatives. Our goal here is to highlight important themes of identity that should be incorporated to make our PYD work meaningful to all stakeholders.