“I give students the choice of calling me Mr. Bill, Dr. Bill or Capt. Bill,” says the retired Navy veteran. “They seem to like Capt. Bill the most!” He now teaches for the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation (MAEF), which provides Mobile Agricultural Labs to Montgomery County Public Schools. Through a special agreement with the county’s Environmental Literacy program and the Montgomery County Office of Agricultural Services, a MAEF Mobile Lab rotates through the county every school year, aiming to reach one-fifth of the elementary schools per year. In that way, every elementary student has the opportunity to climb aboard a lab at least once during their elementary school years.
During the 25-26 school year, the “MoCo Lab” and Capt. Bill or his colleague Kelly Reed visited 26 schools and conducted more than 500 hands-on science experiments with more than 14,000 students.
“We teach science from the context of agriculture,” he explains. “Agriculture is important to everyone. It feeds and clothes and fuels our lives. It stewards our environment and natural resources. It sustains our economy. And it makes a wonderful way to introduce students to science.”
Dedicated to increasing agricultural literacy and agricultural education, MAEF is a statewide nonprofit organization with programs serving pre-kindergarten through post-secondary audiences. MAEF’s signature programs include the Mobile Science Labs, professional development courses for teachers, mobile agricultural showcases, Maryland FFA, scholarships and grants. Funded by the Maryland “ag tag” license plate revenues, gifts, grants and program fees, MAEF promotes the importance of agriculture in everyone’s daily lives.
Students get hands-on with age-appropriate experiments in the labs. They learn to extract DNA from a strawberry. They make lip balm from soybean oil. They create plastics from corn oil. Each lesson comes with pre-work in the classroom, an introduction to the Montgomery County Agriculture Reserve, and follow-up work for the classroom and home.
“Some of these experiments are activities most teachers cannot teach in their classrooms,” Capt. Bill says. “Many elementary classrooms do not have sinks or access to equipment needed, so our labs bring that to them. For most elementary students, the MAEF lab visit is their first lab experience.”
Statewide, MAEF’s fleet of four Mobile Science Labs visits about 120 schools each year, reaching more than 50,000 students. “We make every effort to visit as many county school systems as we can,” says MAEF Elementary Education Director Tonya Wible. “The labs are booked every week of the school year, and some weeks for summer camps.”
After a quick restocking and annual maintenance, the labs will return in September to greet a new schoolyear.
Hungry for more? Check out the MAEF Mobile Science Labs. Connect with Ag in the Classroom resources.
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