SAE Type: Checklist

Exploratory SAE activities are designed to help students become more knowledgeable in areas of agriculture and/or become more aware of possible careers in agriculture. Exploratory SAEs are especially appropriate for middle school students or other beginning agricultural students. However, these SAE activities are not restricted to beginning students.

Entrepreneur SAE programs involve the student planning, implementing, and operating a production agriculture activity or agricultural business. In entrepreneur SAEs, the student and/or parent owns animals, crops, equipment, and other required inputs. Examples of entrepreneur SAEs include livestock projects, a lawn care business, or growing plants.

Placement SAE programs involve the placement of students on farms, in agribusinesses, in school facilities or in community facilities to provide a learning by doing environment. The activities are conducted outside of normal classroom hours and may be paid or non-paid. Examples of placement SAEs include working in the produce department of a grocery store, working at a garden center and working on a farm.

Research SAEs immerse students in planning and executing agricultural experiments using the scientific method, fostering hands-on exploration of scientific principles in agriculture. Examples range from comparing planting media effects on plant growth to assessing feed impacts on fish growth. Non-experimental research SAEs, on the other hand, involve investigating and analyzing problems without scientific research, often resulting in tangible outcomes like school recycling plans or farmland use maps.