SEMINAR

AGSC 4710
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TR 10:00 – 11:00 AM 1 Credit hour
LAWSON HALL ROOM 112 summer 2023
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Instructor: Samuel N. Nahashon
Office: LAWSON HALL 108B
Office Hours: Monday 1:30 – 2:30 PM Phone: 615-963-5829 Office
Tuesday 1:30 – 2:30 PM 615-963-6008 Lab
Wednesday 1:30 – 2:30 PM E-mail: snahashon@tnstate.edu
Thursday 1:30 – 2:30 PM
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Course Description:
A course designed to encourage excellence in public speaking. Students will learn, practice, and critique
or evaluate effective/good public seminars and facilitate interactive discussions in select topics in the
agricultural sciences. Each student will be assigned a topic at the beginning of the semester; they will
research the topic and present the information in class in a manner that is understandable to scientists,
peers, and the public. Students will provide critical reviews of peer presentations on effective scientific
seminar skills. These learned skills will be applicable and essential during the students’ entire
professional careers. Prerequisite COMM 2200.

Course Objective:

To mentor students in communicating current and emerging scientific knowledge in the agricultural
sciences through public speaking.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to:

• Prepare a scientific presentation using tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint.

 Demonstrate understanding of the scientific approach to problem solving.

 Communicate science or topic(s) in the agricultural sciences in 30-40 minutes oral scientific
presentation.

 Facilitate interactive discussion of research or topic(s) in the agricultural sciences.

• Understand and critique scientific presentations.

Assessment/evaluation of student performance:

Students will receive a letter grade following your final research seminar.
Evaluation Criteria:

1. General Aspects of Oral Presentation: Preparedness, Informative, Clarity, flow and appropriate
visual aids, and timing;

2. Scientific approach to problem solving:

a. Introduction: statement of problem, previous reports to support or justify your

research, referencing, research objectives and hypothesis;

b. Materials and Methods: overview of the equipment and materials used, experimental
design and the procedures used to conduct the experiment(s) presented, and statistical
analysis;

c. Results: Anticipated or actual findings from your research;

d. Discussion: Relate your findings with previous reports and imply cause and effect clearly
to or to not support hypothesis. Discuss applications of your research, limitations and
future research opportunities to address emerging questions;

e. Questions: Demonstrate knowledge of topical areas of presentation with confidence

and answering questions to the satisfaction of your audience. Engage your audience in
discussion of the area of your presentation.

Schedule:

Date/week Activity/Lecture/Presentation Assigned

07/03/2023 Presentation and discussion of syllabus; finalize

presentation schedule

Lecture 1 Interactive-scientific approach

Lecture 2 Interactive-Scientific Approach

Lecture 3 Interactive-Scientific Approach

Lecture 4 Interactive-Presentation & Critique

Lecture 5 Interactive-Presentation & Critique

Lecture 6 Interactive-Presentation & Critique 5

Independent Research

Independent Research

Student presentation #1

Student presentation #2

Student presentation #3