Overview of 4-H

For over 100 years, the 4-H program has been teaching young people about agricultural science through hands-on activities. 4-H activities are fun and youth love learning about animals, such as chickens. Through learning about chickens, youth experience all four of the Hs:

• Head: Youth learn lots of science and math
• Heart: Youth learn about concern for others
• Hands: Youth learn about serving the needs of their chicks
• Health: Youth learn about caring for their own well being

4-H Embryology Project

While the 4-H program has offered the Embryology program through school enrichment programs (before and after-school), volunteer project leaders can consider leading a 4-H Embryology program for their club. The following are benefits that volunteers can gain from leading an Embryology program:

1. Opportunities to teach young people about agricultural values
2. Satisfaction of seeing young people learn new skills and gain new knowledge
3. Relationships that volunteers make with other volunteers and youth
4. Learning about science 
5. Building lasting memories with others

Now that you are ready to lead your own 4-H Embryology project, consider the following steps.

Step 1: Prepare for your project

The UC ANR Volunteer Educator's Guide provides a wealth of information for 4-H volunteer project leaders. On page 25, you will see a list of 12 items that each project leader should complete PRIOR to beginning your project, such as:

1. Discussing your project idea with the club leader
2. Completing the required 4-H volunteer application and background check
3. Identify a list of youth who will participate in your project
4. Develop a project description and lesson plan (see below)
5. Obtain a UC ANR facility use agreement
6. Obtain signed treatment authorization/health history forms for all youth participants
7. Distribute project meeting dates and times to youth, volunteers, and your club leader(s)
8. Ensure at least one other adult is present at your project meetings 
9. If raising funds, have you obtained approval from the 4-H county staff and County Director?
10. Provide plenty of drinking water for youth and adults
11. Read the 4-H Project Leaders Digest
12. Distribute Annual Project Report forms to youth to track their project participation

Step 2: Create learning objectives

A lesson plan is the educator's road map for what the 4-H members will need to learn and how it will be done during the 4-H project meeting. Before designing the lesson plan, you first need to identify the learning objectives.

Image from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching

4-H Embryology Learning Objective Examples

The following outline learning objective examples for the 4-H Embryology Project based on the youth's developmental stage. For more information, refer to the 4-H Poultry Project Sheet.

Beginner

• Identify different avian species
• Learn how to properly house birds
• Understand basic avian anatomy
• Learn the feed requirements of different poultry
• Demonstrate basic handling techniques

Intermediate

1. Name and describe breeds of poultry
2. Understand the Standards for breeds of poultry
3. Learn the basic of avian disease prevention and care
4. Participate in poultry showmanship
5. Identify breed characteristics for egg production, meat production, and special purposes

Advanced

1. Learn how to properly incubate eggs
2. Describe grades and sizes of eggs
3. Understand use of photoperiods and lighting in production of chickens
4. Participate in Poultry Bowls and Champion Exhibitor contests
5. Present on topics pertaining to poultry
6. Improve knowledge of breeds and standards of poultry

Step 3: Choose a (or design your own) lesson plan with activities

As mentioned above, a lesson plan outlines what activities the youth will do in order to learn the objectives. Fortunately, there are several really great 4-H Embryology lesson plans with activities already designed for you to consider.

• Hatching Classroom Projects (grades 2-5)
• Experiments in Poultry Science (grades 6-8)
• Embryology Lesson Plans (week by week) by the University of Florida

Depending on your county, you may be able to check out an incubator from your local 4-H office. In addition, your county 4-H office may be able to help you get fertilized chicken eggs.

• Placer and Nevada Counties: Request a 4-H incubator here.
• Sutter and Yuba Counties: Request a 4-H incubator here.

Step 4: Reviewing best-practices for helping youth thrive

Pedagogy is the method and practice of teaching. 4-H volunteers do a lot of teaching, but not in the way some people understand. Here's why:

• Volunteers don't lecture, but instead they design hands-on learning experiences for youth. This way of teaching is called "experiential learning." Learn more about experiential learning here.
• Volunteers don't take over the learning process, but instead they partner with youth by sharing leadership, which is called adult-youth partnership. Learn more abut adult-youth partnerships here.
• Volunteers don't expect youth to learn randomly, but instead they focus on cultivating learning environments, such as helping youth find their spark (passion), helping youth feel like they belong, forging healthy relationships, and encouraging youth to engage in the project. Learn more about the learning environments (i.e. developmental contexts) by viewing the 4-H national Thrive Model of Positive Youth Development. 

Step 5: Ask for constructive feedback

4-H's motto is "To make the best better." This motto encourages youth (and adult volunteers) to continue to do their best and continue to grow and develop over time. As such, project leaders have an opportunity to take stock at what is working really well in their project as well as identify any barriers of project engagement. There are many ways to gather constructive feedback. The following are ideas for you to consider:

• At the first project meeting, ask youth how they feel about the project and whether there are any logistical challenges they have with fully participating in the project (e.g. transportation and/or economic barriers)
• At the third project meeting, ask the other adult volunteer what they feel is working well in the project and what ideas for improvement they have "to make the best better"
• Midway through the project, give the youth a written questionnaire asking for their honest (and confidential) feedback. Explain that the questionnaire is not required, but optional. 
  
  • "What do you like about the project?"
  • "What changes would you suggest to make this project even better?"
  • "What are you learning from this project?"
  • "Would you recommend this project to your friend?" Why or why not?

Why gather feedback from your youth and volunteers? Because in 4-H, we are committed to "making the best better." As adult volunteers, we have the chance to model continuous improvement in front of many watching eyes. If we are constantly improving our craft, we demonstrate to youth how they can improve their craft too.

Step 6: Consult additional resources

In 4-H, we have a large community with lots of expertise that we can draw from. The following are some additional resources for you to consider as you lead your 4-H Embryology project.

• University of California Cooperative Extension (Placer County) 4-H embryology website
• UC ANR 4-H Project Sheet website
• University of Florida 4-H embryology website
• Utah State University 4-H curricula website
• National 4-H curricula website
• Chicken embryo development video
• Are you a public school teacher? Did you know 4-H has resources to help your school implement an embryology expanded learning (before or after-school) program? To learn more, visit our website.

June Stewart - Making the Best Better

This blog post is dedicated to long-time 4-H professional June Stewart, who ran the embryology program in Placer County for 25 years. Over her career, June touched the lives of many youth and volunteers. To recognize her efforts, the Gold Country Fair named the small animal barn in her honor. 

Questions?

Feel free to reach out to Dr. Matthew Rodriguez, 4-H Youth Development Advisor for Placer, Nevada, Sutter, and Yuba Counties at mrro@ucanr.edu or call 530-889-7385.