WYOMING — Julie Albert, 7, and Damon Swartwood, 8, were both certain that if you put a popcorn kernel in water, it would sink. They learned that’s not the case.
The second-grade students in Heather Dinoski’s class at the Wyoming Area Primary Center were two of the many who participated in the Mobile Ag Ed Science Lab, which focused on teaching students about foods they eat.
One of the experiments was putting different foods — such as popcorn, rice, cheese balls, and macaroni — into water to see if they would sink or float.
“We learned that some objects didn’t float and we thought that they floated,” said Albert.
“We learned that things float because of air,” said Swartwood.
Students learned where popcorn comes from and conducted other experiments, including making their own lip balm and practicing proper hand washing.
Jane Wessner, of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau who instructed the students, said they put something on their hands and then put them under a blacklight to show germs on their hands.
“The reason we do that is the connection with food is that we eat with our hands and end up with germs, so we need to clean our foods and clean our hands so we’re not getting sick,” Wessner said. “The object is to get all of that off their hands.”
The Mobile Ag Ed Science Lab is sponsored by the PA Friends of Agriculture and the American Agricultural Foundation and was brought to the area by Trina Moss of the Luzerne/Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board.
“If we start young with them, we can teach them about careers that they can get in agriculture and workforce developments,” Moss said. “How many kids know where popcorn comes from? They’re learning hands-on experiments.”
Moss heard of the mobile lab when she attended a farming breakfast with Rep. Tarah Toohill.
“The Secretary of Agriculture (Sonny Perdue) was there and he was talking about this, and I knew we had to find money to get this out to the schools,” Moss said.
The lab was at the Pittston Area Intermediate Center and Wyoming Area Primary Center earlier this year but, due to winter storm Stella, the Wyoming Area students were unable to participate.
“It was physically here for a day and then all of the other days it was buried under 24 inches of snow,” said Michelle Mikitish, vice president of the Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce.
The lab also went to North Schuylkill and Schuylkill Haven school districts.
To bring the lab back to Wyoming Area a second time in under a year proved costly, but Mikitish said the Ronald McDonald House offered a $10,000 grant to help the process as Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce President Patricia Stella, who owns and operates 11 McDonald’s restaurants, was able to get the ball rolling.
Blue Ribbon Farm Dairy of West Pittston donated an additional $5,000.
“Blue Ribbon stepped up in a big way to be able to close that gap for us and essentially make it happen in the end,” said Mikitish.
Moss and Mikitish said their goal is to bring the lab back every year, but Mikitish noted that will depend on funding.
Kiki Sorick, owner of Blue Ribbon Farm Dairy, said her business will do whatever it can to help bring the mobile lab back to at least the Wyoming Area School District.
“We would never say ‘no’ to our home district,” she said.
