Mobile Ag Lab Turns Conneaut Valley Third-Graders into Hands-On Scientists

Mobile Ag Lab Brings Science to Life for Third-Graders

SPRING TOWNSHIP — For a group of 17 third-graders, a classroom on wheels transformed an ordinary school day into an energetic science lesson. The Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation parked one of its six 40-foot Mobile Agriculture Education Science Labs outside the school, and students spent the morning conducting experiments and exploring fungi.

"It looks like vomit," 9-year-old Bella Hennessey observed, peering into a test tube — an offhand comment that teacher Cathy Vorisek welcomed as the kind of observation scientists use to begin investigations. Vorisek, who has taught with the Ag Lab for nearly 35 years, led the class through two hands-on activities: testing whether a mushroom is a plant and observing what happens when yeast, sugar and water are mixed in a test tube with a balloon on top.

The yeast experiment produced dramatic, immediate results. After students added water and shook the yeast and sugar mixture, some test tubes turned into a lumpy, light-brown goo — a detail that prompted giggles and comparisons to regurgitated food. As fermentation began, carbon dioxide filled the balloons on the tubes: one balloon swelled until it popped off and drifted onto the counter. "Mine popped!" exclaimed Henry Marvka, describing the sudden brown puff that followed.

Vorisek used the moment to explain fermentation in plain terms: shaking activated the yeast, which consumed sugar and released carbon dioxide that inflated the balloons. Students recorded what they heard and smelled; reactions ranged from Holdyn Cornell's blunt "vomit" to others who detected a sourdough-like aroma.

The class also dissected white mushrooms and compared their structure to plants. Vorisek explained that most U.S. mushrooms are grown in Pennsylvania — especially around Kennett Square, known as the mushroom capital of the world — and guided students as they examined caps, gills and the mycelium that resembles root-like threads. Using celery soaked in colored water, she demonstrated how water moves through plants, then contrasted that with the sponge-like way mushrooms absorb moisture. She emphasized key differences: mushrooms thrive in dark places, lack chlorophyll and cannot make their own food, so they belong to a different kingdom — fungi.

Volunteer Abbie Wheeler helped students label plant parts and match vocabulary to diagrams. The visit, typically a week long, costs about $2,500 and is often funded by parent-teacher organizations; Conneaut Valley's PTO covered the fee for this visit. Vorisek said the lab's schedule included recent visits to Mercer, Lock Haven and Berwick, and that Conneaut Valley is the only Crawford County school on the tour this year.

"The kids absolutely love this," Wheeler said. "At this age they don't really have science class yet, and they rarely get to do hands-on experiments. This gives them a real taste of being scientists." The students agreed: as they lined up to return to school, they described the experience as fun and educational. "You learn a lot," Cornell said. "Because you get to do more things instead of just writing and math."