Grasshoppers and beetles are bad; ladybugs and bees are good, students learned in a big RV parked outside their school recently.
Inside, Anne McCausland, a certified science teacher, taught hands-on lessons in an easygoing, memorable format.
The classroom on wheels is the Mobile Ag Ed Science Lab, a project of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau through the Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation. It stopped by The King’s Academy, Centre Township, for three days in mid-December.
“With fewer children having a tie to farming, we created the Ag Lab program to help teachers educate more students about the importance of agriculture,” Rick Ebert, president of Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, said.
Getting the bugs out
The 40-foot-long lab, with 12 workstations, offers more than 30 lessons related to agriculture and geared to students from kindergarten to eighth grade. There are six mobile labs across the state.
After taking a class in the lab, fifth-graders at TKA talked about their impressions of farming.
“Some things we grow on farms can be used for things other than food,” said fifth-grader Josie Whipple. “Like soybeans can be used to make ink.”
On Dec. 12, McCausland was teaching a class of second-graders about the ways insects can be helpful or harmful to crops. That’s when they learned about beneficial bees and ladybugs, and pests like grasshoppers and beetles. McCausland had a few surprises for students, like making their usual teacher dress up in a ridiculous bug costume – hilarious.
Students learned insect anatomy while crafting their own insects from a plastic body, tissue paper wings and pipe cleaner legs and antenna.
“Bend the feet like this,” McCausland demonstrated. “Some of your bugs will stand up right away. Others will have to be trained at home.”
The nose knows
Then she put their noses to work, explaining that insects find each other by sensing pheromones, the chemical substance released by an animal that influences others of the same species.
“Everybody say ‘fer-uh-mohns,’ ” McCausland said.
“Pheromones,” the second-graders chanted back in unison.
She brought out old film canisters, each containing a piece of scented cotton. The scents were common to the kitchen: mint, licorice and others.
Students were each given a canister and instructed to walk around and sniff each other’s canisters without talking, because insects don’t talk.
When they found a matching scent, they were to stay together and keep sniffing for more matches.
There was a lot of laughter, and a powerful memory in the making.
Every class goes through the lab at least once when it stops at a school, usually staying for five days.
“Kindergarten through first grade has a different curriculum than you would see for third, fourth and fifth,” McCausland said.
The older grades use the scientific method as they work through experiments.
Solving problems
“Not only is it Common Core and on the PSSA, but it’s stuff they need to know,” McCausland said of the scientific method.
The students learn how to identify a problem, form a hypothesis and come to a conclusion, according to pfb.com, the website for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
“With two curriculum tracks targeting grades 3 through 5, schools can customize the focus of the visit on either the environment or nutrition,” the website says. ” In each track, the role of agriculture and its impact on the daily lives of students is highlighted. Each science lesson is designed to not only emphasize a different aspect of agriculture, but also various science concepts.”
There are lessons centering on soybeans, corn, mushrooms and more.
Younger students respond to hands-on, make-and-take projects.
Older students get to see things like how plastics can be made out of corn and crayons made from soybeans instead of petroleum products.
“Some of the things we teach out here are really environmentally friendly,” McCausland said. “We teach that we don’t have all the answers, but we believe this is the next generation to fix things, whether it’s recycling or things that are going on in the environment.”
Experiments unbound
According to pfb.com, “The experiments performed include equipment and supplies not readily available to classroom teachers and are of a nature that most teachers wouldn’t want to tackle in a traditional classroom setting.”
Michelle Goodman, head of school for TKA, said the private Christian school of 165 students is agriculture-friendly. After all, it is surrounded by farmland.
“We draw from 15 area school districts, some of them being more urban, like Reading and Wyomissing.” Goodman said. “It is great exposure for all students, exposing them to the importance of agriculture.”
The lab is in service at different schools throughout the school year.
“We book well in advance,” McCausland said.
The lab was invited to TKA by parent and farmer Sandy Rhoads of Douglass Township, Montgomery County. She arranged the visit because farming is close to her heart and she wanted students to understand that farming is about more than animals.
Everyday connection
“The food they’re eating, the products they use, what they are wearing, all have links to agriculture,” Rhoads said.
Of the 10 students in the fifth grade class, two have parents who are farmers, but all know someone who works on a farm.
Six of the 10 said they might want to pursue a career in agriculture.
Ellie Holbert said she would love to do animal farming. Her farm would have horses, cows and sheep.
“I like animals and nature,” Holbert said.
There are posters in the lab that get students thinking about the vast career options in agriculture. The images show how aquaculturists work with aquatic plants and animals; biometricians analyze data to determine trends, forecast conditions of resources or understand climate change; plant pathologists study diseases in plants and look for biological, chemical or cultural controls for diseases in plants we use for food and fiber; wood scientists convert wood to usable wood products; remote sensing specialists interpret and analyze aerial satellite images to create maps, monitor forest fires and determine needy areas.
1 million and counting
The projects got students thinking agriculturally.
“We got to make our own farm with partners, and we got to do fences and cover crops,” said student Jack Heckman. “I really liked it because it made me feel more like I would like to be on the farm when I’m older.”
The Mobile Ag Ed Science Lab has been in operation for 15 years, said Leigh Ann Courtney, program coordinator.
In 2016, the program counted 1 million students served since the program’s inception.
A visit costs schools $500 a day, with a three-day minimum. Agriculture-related donors have supported the program financially, making it possible for the lab to visit for free at many schools.
Overall, The King’s Academy students learned some science and ended up with a good impression of agriculture.
Farms make good neighbors, one fifth-grader said – especially farms with cows.
“When I was about 7, my family used to live next to a cow farm,” said Liam Snyder. “We always heard mooing outside. It’s kind of relaxing. They helped put me to sleep.”
Contact Beth Brelje: 610-371-5022 or bbrelje@readingeagle.com.
