The National Science Center’s Ag-In-Motion truck visited DMS on Wednesday. Ag in Motion is a 53-foot state-of-the-art trailer converted to a lab classroom. The lab gives students the opportunity to learn about agriculture related career opportunities through instruction based on seventh-grade science curriculum for California schools.

The mobile classroom experience features 20 laboratory stations, complete with microscopes and lesson plans. Labs are taught by a certified seventh-grade science teacher and classes can range from bug anatomy to DNA extraction.

DMS science teacher Sean Eddington said AIM couldn’t have come at a better time.

“We are going into cells and DNA next week so this is a great lead in for the kids. This definitely helps the kids to see that all living things have purpose — even strawberries,” he said.

Students in the lab mashed up strawberries to create a strawberry pulp and break the cell membranes in the strawberry. Then they added a soapy solution followed by ethanol to extract the DNA away from the cells. The resulting layer was DNA filled goo which the students could inspect with the naked eye.

For more information, visit the National Ag Science Center website at www.agsciencecenter.org.