John C. Ricketts

The Relationship between Leadership Development and Critical Thinking Skills

The primary purpose of this correlational study was to explain the relationship between discipline specific critical thinking skills and leadership training and experiences of selected FFA youth leaders. Researcher-developed measures of critical thinking skills and leadership were used to discover low, but positive relationships between critical thinking skills and each leadership variable of leadership training, leadership experience, and total leadership score. The relationship between leadership training and Evaluation and Total Critical Thinking Skill was significant. Similarly, the relationship between leadership experiences and Analysis and Total Critical Thinking Skill was significant. Finally, the relationship between combined leadership score and Analysis, Evaluation, and Total Critical Thinking Skill was also significant. Recommendations include more student exposure to formal teaching and training in leadership, more research to substantiate the connection between leadership and critical thinking, and more encouragement for students to be more active in non-formal activities.

Critical Thinking Dispositions of Agricultural Communications Students

Critical thinking, a reasoned, purposive, and introspective approach to solving problems, has received increased attention from agricultural educators. This study of agricultural communications students utilized a directly administered survey to investigate critical thinking dispositions of agricultural communications students at 12 universities. Results indicated that agricultural communications student respondents tend to be highly innovative in their thinking, an important trait in the field of communications. Results also indicated that few agricultural communication students would be classified as having a strong disposition toward critical thinking, while a larger number would be classified as weak in critical thinking dispositions.

Student Leadership Practices of Georgia FFA Success Conference Participants.

The purpose of this study was to assess the leadership practices or behaviors of FFA members participating in a leadership development workshop known as the Success Conference in Georgia. Leadership practices were determined using the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (Kouzes & Posner, 1998). While success conference participants scored the highest on encouraging the heart (M = 23.77; SD = 4.18) and enabling others to act (M = 23.75; SD = 4.40), placing Georgia FFA members participating in the Success Conference at approximately the 45 th and 35 th percentile respectively for all Student LPI scores, this was slightly below Kouzes’ and Posner’s (1998) normative data for high school students. It is recommended that future leadership development opportunities focus on activities that foster collaboration, strengthen others, recognize the contributions of others, and celebrate team accomplishments.