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CHAPTER
19
Toward Integrative Thinking:
A Teaching Challenge
Richard A. Herrett
Roy G. Arnold, Rapporteur
A recent National Research Council (NRC) committee noted in the
study Educating the Next Generation of Agricultural Scientists (Na-
tional Research Council, 1988) that there is an appalling lack of
reliable data on educating agricultural scientists. They relied on the
collective wisdom of the committee to fill that data gap. I have
discussed the issue with several of my colleagues in industry, how-
ever, and have woven their thoughts into this discussion.
The NRC committee also noted several factors that influenced
their thinking and that are equally important to this discussion:
· the rapid changes in several sciences critical to agriculture,
such as human nutrition, forestry, and food and fiber processing;
· the future uncertainty of public- and private-sector investments
in agricultural sciences and technological development;
· the economic adjustments, social and demographic changes,
and institutional reforms; and
· the lack of information on how current educational policy and
programs affect the quantitative dimensions of doctoral scientists.
These variables are still at work today and influence to varying
degrees the considerations discussed here.
I approach this discussion from the vantage point that industry is
the marketplace and that academic institutions provide a product to
fit into that market. I do not mean to infer a process such as
serving hamburgers at McDonald's, nor do I wish to suggest that 1
am minimizing the many other vital aspects of the university, such
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TOWARD INTEGRATIVE THINKING: A TEACHING CHALLENGE
as research and extension. Industrial research and development is
not done in a perfect world, and there are characteristics of indus-
try that set it apart from the governmental and the academic worlds.
These characteristics must be recognized.
I will examine some trends that are taking place and that should
be considered as one defines the product for this marketplace. I
will also examine some of the major changes taking place in our
industry agriculture that influence the kind of product we need.
Finally, I will examine what I perceive that these trends and changes
tell us in the way of the challenges facing educational institutions
today.
An examination of some of the circumstances that have influ-
enced my thinking may be helpful as I attempt to paint my views.
My degrees, both undergraduate (Rutgers) and graduate (University
of Minnesota)' were obtained from more or less traditional land-
grant universities.
In both universities there was a college of agriculture and a main
campus. The latter was, in the estimation of some, where the real
education took place, and there was a major delineation between
the two facilities. indeed, even within each of the institutions there
were incredible walls and a sense of isolation between various
departments. There was very little evidence of any exchange of
ideas or people.
My entire professional career has been spent in the industrial
world, even during an initial period at the Boyce Thompson Insti-
tute (BT1), where 1 was a Union Carbide industrial research scientist
working in an academic environment. Although I had the good
fortune of studying under professors such as E. C. Stakman, P. D.
Coyer, J. J. Christensen, and others, it was at BTI when the interna-
tional dimensions of plant biochemistry and the opportunity to par-
ticipate in seminars, workshops, and symposia took on an entirely
new dimension in which it was possible to integrate one's own
training with other disciplines and to begin to sense the powerful
potential of modern science. This was especially so in the post-
Sputnik era, which witnessed a tremendous expansion of scientific
endeavor with relatively easy access to funding. It was indeed a
glorious time to be a new doctoral scientist.
It was too good to last, of course, and it was there that I had my
first exposure to the notion of flexibility. Union Carbide decided to
relocate from BTI "to focus their research," and from that point
onward "industrial research" became an identifiable activity. I should
note that there was a strong academic bias against industrial re-
search as part of a protective, supportive mechanism to retain the
best graduates within the university system. Undoubtedly, that
bias was related partly to the unusual demand for scientists at that
time and partly to the nature of industrial research.
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
Characteristics of Industrial Research
The following are some of the obvious characteristics of research
in a very generalized industrial setting. Indeed, each industry and
each company within each industry will operate differently, which
will affect these characterizations.
· short-term profit horizons, usually within lo years, but some-
times within one or two quarters;
· little energy directed toward new knowledge, which is usually
accidental if it is discovered and is generally difficult to develop;
~ susceptibility to economic dislocations;
· continuous process of refocusing and restating objectives;
· small or narrow discipline base; and
· integration of several disciplines.
Trends in Industry
In addition to the more or less generalized characteristics of
industrial research, there are certain trends taking place in industry
that also influence the nature of the marketplace:
· consolidation for example, in the past 20 years, the agrochemical
business has gone from 36 to less than 12 major research and
development-driven companies;
· new start-ups-entrepreneurial enterprises are often based on
a new discovery or technology;
· integration of several disciplines for example, biotechnology,
which is multidisciplinary;
· new dimensions for example, biotechnology, which includes
ethics, strategic planning, economics, and communications;
· increasing costs and regulations;
· increased environmental awareness (costs); and
· expanded multinational dimensions personnel, markets, and
regulation.
These trends also have an impact on the marketplace and the
type of product emerging from the university system.
Growing Environmental Awareness
Another example of the changes taking place is the growing
awareness of the environment and the implications of this aware-
ness not only on agriculture but also on the general public. This
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TOWARD INTEGRATIVE THINKING: A TEACHING CHALLENGE
awareness clearly must be an integral part of the product emerging
from the system. increased environmental awareness is seen in
education and politics as well as production agriculture. Whereas
schools were formerly called colleges of agriculture, today they are
known as colleges of agriculture and natural resources, among other
names. The logo Farm Bill shows environmental awareness at an
increased level over that in the 1985 Farm Bill, and production
agriculture has gone from being chemically intensive to being knowl-
edge intensive. For production agriculture, the change has been
evolutionary end not revolutionary. The latterimplies chaos. in the
political arena there was concern that agriculture was part of the
problem and needed to lee controlled. Unresolved issues such as
groundwater contamination, food safety, and sustainability all ad-
dress those concerns. There can be little doubt, however, that
farmers are ardent environmentalists. Farmers recognize the essen-
tiality of sustainability as being integral to their economic survival
and will therefore fight to extremes to preserve their land or en-
hance it for their children. The question becomes one of public
perception fueled by the absence of understanding of what agricul-
ture really is all about.
Challenges to Academic Institutions
These trends in industry and changes in environmental aware-
ness and perception present challenges to the academic institu-
tions. AS I see it, these challenges can be drawn up into three
categories: science, thought process, and communications.
Science
There are increasing demands for ever more specific knowledge
and more sophisticated techniques. This is not surprising given the
explosive growth in scientific knowledge and increased complexi-
ties in instrumentation. Science has become big business, which
seems to place increasing demands on discipline-based training.
ironically, perhaps, there is also a need to focus on the big picture.
This is brought about by demands that include the cultural, ethical,
and economic implications of the impact of the science. Society no
longer merely accepts the notion that all new technology is good
and therefore good for people. Scientists must be trained to inte-
grate their discoveries into the big picture. This clearly implies that
there must be an integration of information from a variety of sources,
and one trained in a disciplinary style simply cannot respond to
this challenge. Indeed, the focused disciplinary approach does not
produce a product that is well equipped for the industrial market.
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
Thought Process
There is little question that we can train people to assimilate
factual knowledge simply by repeating it over and over again. The
challenge, however, is to provide people with the ability and the
skills to integrate and synthesize disparate pieces of knowledge
that lead to the formulation of new conclusions from that knowl-
edge. it is no longer adequate to learn the methodology of map-
ping genes and establish a picture of the human genome by using
three-letter base pairs without an understanding and awareness of
humans, human evolution, and human society. we simply cannot
reduce the process to one of numbers. This challenges the educa-
tional system to go beyond sheer memorization to become skillful
in the thought process.
Communications
There is an increasing knowledge base as the amount of infor-
mation grows. This challenge mandates an ability tO simplify and
communicate complex ideas to an untrained but, by and large,
intelligent public.
Conclusion
Although there are no hard numbers to cite, there seems little
question that our industry~griculture is undergoing massive changes,
changes that affect every aspect of that industry and, perhaps most
significantly, the educational component. These changes place a
premium on flexibility, or the ability to adapt to change. This is
certainly true within industry, which has witnessed unprecedented
consolidation and restructuring, especially over the past decade.
The advent of biotechnology may be one of the most significant
events of recent times, not only because of the new opportunities it
creates but because of the potential impact on training, because it
demands an integration of disciplines and skills that transcends the
past tendencies to become compartmentalized. The changes in
the constituent relationship from an industry based on chemical
inputs to a knowledge-intensive industry one that is perceived as
the solution to the nations environmental concerns will place ex-
tensive demands on communications skills. The future success of
Americats number one industry agriculture will depend on the extent
to which the academic community is successful in meeting these
challenges.
When Theodore L. Hullar, chairman of the Board on Agriculture,
considered the current problems facing agriculture, he highlighted
the challenges of issues such as national and global public educa-
tion about agriculture and the appropriate training of the next gen
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TOWARD INTEGRATIVE THINKING: A TEACHING CHALLENGE
oration of international agricultural scientists. I submit that our very
survival as the worlds leading producer of high-quality food and
fiber in an increasingly competitive, rapidly changing international
market depends on our ability to meet this teaching challenge.
Reference
National Research Council. 1988. Educating the Next Generation of Agri-
cultural Scientists. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
RAPPORTEUR'S SUMMARY
The discussion following the presentation by Richard A. Herrett
focused on some successful teaching approaches to the develop-
ment of integrative thinking. Challenges and constraints were also
identified.
Participants shared the following as being successful teaching
approaches for the development of students" integrative thinking
skills:
· freshman-level issues course in which students work with sev-
eral different paradigms;
· introductory general education courses;
· small discussion groups involving students with widely dispar-
ate interests and perspectives;
· the broadest possible diversity in courses by including stu-
dents with various backgrounds and majors;
· coupling of cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural courses that
students take in pairs, with opportunities for group discussion of
contrasting perspectives;
· capstone courses in each major;
a senior core course for students of all majors, focusing on the
views of "adopted thinkers" on specific topics or issues;
· industry visitations and executive in the classroom-type pro-
grams for real-world exposure;
· internships, with advance preparation, monitoring, and follow-
up reporting and discussion;
· mathematical models, which are integrative in and of them-
selves;
· decision-case approaches, by which the teacher lists a set of
assumptions and calls upon the students to respond to those as-
sumptions;
· goal-setting exercises;
· writing assignments;
· emphasis on listening skills (active listening);
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
· integration of subject matter around a common focal point,
such as the environment and food safety; and
· careful development and analysis of course objectives requir-
ing thinking skills, including consideration of appropriate final ex-
amination questions to assess the attainment of each objective.
Several challenges and constraints to the development of inte-
grative thinking skills among students were identified. These in-
cluded the following ideas and statements from participants in the
discussion:
· problems in understanding what we mean by integrative think-
ing; Herrett's observations regarding different approaches to think-
ing in universities and industry are indicative of the problems of
common definition and understanding;
· most of us are from "cells" (i.e.> disciplines) that are becoming
more specialized;
· disciplines were created by us, and we're comfortable with
them;
· we are unable to achieve integrative thinking in students un-
less we display it in the classroom and are rewarded for doing so;
· we tend to focus on science, while many of our students are
more oriented to agribusiness;
· most college faculty have had no formal preparation for teach-
ing, but they are expected to be innovative; we have not been
taught nor have we observed effective approaches to teaching inte-
grative thinking skills; and
· large student numbers present a particular challenge for many
of the integrative thinking approaches to teaching.
From the discussion in this group, it is clear that a greater invest-
ment in faculty development for teaching is needed. Faculty need
to have opportunities to learn new concepts, develop new tech-
niques and skills, and think about and plan their teaching approaches.
Development of integrative thinking skills in students will require
both faculty initiative and investment in faculty development.
The challenge is how to prepare students for a 40-year or more
occupation involving seven or eight career changes. Many of our
graduates' future jobs have not been defined at this time. Our focus
should be on preparing students for life, not a first job. Integrative
thinking should be part of that preparation.
Finally, it is important to note that we have not produced large
numbers of failures. Most graduates of colleges of agriculture are
quite successful, flexible, and adaptable. They seem to keep learn-
ing and growing throughout their careers. We can do better, of
course, but let us not forget that we are not doing too badly at
present.
164
Representative terms from entire chapter:
industrial research
