The Mobile Agriculture Education Science Lab visited Nicole Smith’s third-grade class, giving 17 students hands-on experiments and lessons led by Cathy Vorisek. Children observed a yeast-sugar fermentation that inflated balloons and examined mushrooms to learn how fungi differ from plants. Operated by the Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation, the trailer-based program travels the state; a typical week’s visit costs about $2,500 and is often PTO-funded. The interactive session earned enthusiastic praise from students and volunteers.
Mobile Ag Lab Turns Third-Graders into Scientists in Conneaut Valley
The Mobile Agriculture Education Science Lab visited Nicole Smith’s third-grade class, giving 17 students hands-on experiments and lessons led by Cathy Vorisek. Children observed a yeast-sugar fermentation that inflated balloons and examined mushrooms to learn how fungi differ from plants. Operated by the Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation, the trailer-based program travels the state; a typical week’s visit costs about $2,500 and is often PTO-funded. The interactive session earned enthusiastic praise from students and volunteers.
21:16, 08.11.2025Science
Mobile Ag Lab Visits Conneaut Valley Third-Graders
SPRING TOWNSHIP — The Mobile Agriculture Education Science Lab rolled up to Nicole Smith’s school this week, transforming her 17 third-graders into hands-on scientists. Instructor Cathy Vorisek led the class through experiments and close observations that illustrated basic scientific methods and introduced students to the differences between plants and fungi.
"When you came into my classroom today, you became a scientist," Vorisek told the class, urging students to observe, hypothesize and record their findings.
Yeast Experiment: Watching Science Happen
One activity demonstrated how yeast consumes sugar and produces carbon dioxide. Students shook test tubes containing yeast, sugar and water, then placed balloons over the tube openings. As the yeast fermented the sugar, released CO₂ filled the balloons — in one case inflating a balloon until it popped. The energetic reaction prompted vivid student responses: some likened the lumpy mixture to vomit, while others compared the smell to sourdough bread.
Mushrooms vs. Plants: Comparing Structures
Students also examined white mushrooms from cap to mycelium, splitting specimens to compare internal structures. Vorisek used celery dyed with colored water to highlight how plant capillaries move water, then contrasted that with how fungi absorb moisture more like a sponge. The class learned that mushrooms lack chlorophyll, do not photosynthesize, prefer darker environments and therefore belong to a different kingdom — fungi, not plants.
Context and Impact
The outreach program is run by the Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation, the charitable arm of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Vorisek teaches in one of six 40-foot classroom trailers that travel statewide from Conneautville to Philadelphia. She has served in the Ag Lab for nearly 35 years and noted that Conneaut Valley is this year’s only Crawford County stop. A typical week-long visit costs about $2,500, often covered by local PTOs.
PTO volunteer Abbie Wheeler praised the experience: "The kids absolutely love this. At this age, they don’t really have science class yet. They don’t get to do experiments like you do in high school, so when they get to do this kind of hands-on, they love it." Students agreed that the hands-on format helped them learn more than routine classroom work.
Takeaway: The Mobile Ag Lab provided a lively, practical science experience that taught observation, the scientific method and real agricultural science — inspiring curiosity and excitement among third-graders.