In the study reported on here we investigated factors impeding the stimulation and sustenance of students’ interest in the acquisition of psycho-productive skills in senior secondary school agricultural science. We used the classical design for change experiments or before-after measures as the research design. Two methods of teaching, namely demonstration and conventional teaching were used with the experimental and control groups (87 subjects) from 2 schools in the Ijebu-East Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. A self-reporting scale exposed the students’ perceptions of limiting factors such as seeing agriculture as a dirty job, a school subject meant for never-to-do-well, dull students, and as punishment for erring students. Of the 12 factors listed as stimulating and sustaining students’ interest, the subjects identified 8 as limiting ones. The results from the mean, standard deviation and t-test indicate that there was significant difference between the factors identified by the experimental and control groups. The results also reveal that there was a significant difference in the factors identified by male and female subjects. This could have been as a result of gender stereotyping regarding agricultural practices in some parts of the study area. It was suggested, among others, that the agricultural science teacher should make efforts to incorporate innovative teaching approaches like demonstration methods in classroom practice coupled with infusion of practical periods to enhance psycho-productive skills acquisition. The vocational agriculture curriculum should include an approach to easily measure a combination of psycho-productive, affective and cognitive skills rather than mere cognitive skills.

中文翻译：

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在中学农业科学中激发和维持对心理生产技能习得兴趣的限制因素

在这里报道的研究中，我们调查了阻碍激发和维持学生在高中农业科学中获得心理生产技能的兴趣的因素。我们将经典设计用于变化实验或前后测量作为研究设计。尼日利亚奥贡州 Ijebu-East 地方政府区 2 所学校的实验组和对照组（87 名受试者）采用了两种教学方法，即示范教学法和常规教学法。自我报告量表暴露了学生对限制因素的看法，例如将农业视为一项肮脏的工作，一门针对永远不会做得好、沉闷的学生的学校科目，以及对犯错学生的惩罚。在列出的 12 个激发和维持学生兴趣的因素中，受试者将 8 个确定为限制性的。均值、标准差和t检验的结果表明，实验组和对照组确定的因素之间存在显着差异。结果还表明，男性和女性受试者确定的因素存在显着差异。这可能是由于研究区域某些地区对农业实践的性别陈规定型观念造成的。除其他外，有人建议农业科学教师应努力将创新的教学方法，如课堂实践中的示范方法结合注入实践阶段，以提高心理生产技能的获得。职业农业课程应包括一种易于衡量心理生产力、