Mobile Science Activity Centers Bring Agriculture to Kentucky Classrooms
In partnership with: Kentucky Department of Agriculture
Launched in 2013, the Mobile Science Activity Centers are administered by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Office of Agricultural Marketing. In the past five years, the department estimates the activity centers have reached more than 17,000 students.
“The Mobile Science Activity Center is essentially a field trip on wheels,” said Kalee Gregg, who serves as the coordinator for the central region.
There are three trailers located in the central, west, and southeast portions of the state. Gregg is one of the three coordinators who partner with Kentucky Agriculture and Environment in the Classroom and industry stakeholders. The coordinators take the trailers,
which can accommodate 27 to 30 individuals at once, to schools and events, teaching students about agriculture and food production.
“Not only are the students learning where their food comes from, but also how it’s produced,” Gregg said. “We strive to provide each student with a greater appreciation for Kentucky farmers.”
See more: Kentucky Gift Guide of Locally Made Products
Rolling Into Ag Education
The centers’ activities align with Kentucky education standards, and the program is geared primarily toward third through fifth graders. The cost is $200 per day or $500 for three days maximum per school location.
Teachers choose the curriculum for their schools, selecting from nine activities, including playing Cash Cow on the iPads, which teaches the highs and lows of managing a herd of livestock; Super Slurper, where students strategize to clean up a highway spill; or making – and eating – ice cream in a bag.
Students become junior scientists, learning about the production and processing of common crops such
as soybeans, and how they are converted into everyday products such as lip balm.
During her reign, Miss Kentucky is considered a full-time employee of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and spokesperson for Kentucky Proud, which promotes Kentucky farms and their products. So, she regularly joins classes onboard the trailers.
Jodi Buckley, coordinator of the North Family Resource/Youth Services Center for Pendleton County, said she could see those “light bulb” moments in students when Gregg visited her school, Northern Elementary, in 2023.
“The students can learn in the classroom, but to actually have a mobile science unit come to your school where the kids are able to do science experiments hands-on is great,” Buckley said. “It makes agriculture cool and reinforces what they learn in the classroom.”
Check out kyagr.com/msac to learn more about the Mobile Science Activity Center.
See more: How Chaney’s Dairy Barn in Kentucky Is Elevating Agritourism