NOBLE NEWS
from The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
Science shows students the importance of agriculture Microscopes, plants, a drone and eighth-graders filled the Hardy Murphy Coliseum arena. s one group of eighth-graders squeezed a spongy strip of wet grass, learning how plants help filter water resources and slow down flooding and drought, another touched a sheep’s four-chambered stomach while learning how ruminant animals, like sheep and cattle, convert grass to muscle. Later, the students huddled around microscopes to see the microbes that live inside a cow’s rumen and make this conversion possible. “It was interesting to see all the microbes from the cow’s stomach,” said Jentri Rayburn, an eighth-grader at Plainview Middle School. “I’m around cows a lot, so it was cool to see what’s inside them.” The hands-on lessons were part of the annual Science in Ag Day, an educational event sponsored by Noble Academy, the youth education and outreach program of The Samuel Roberts 28 — Oklahoma Country
Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Okla. The event, held May 4-5, 2016, was designed to connect students with agriculture and its importance to nearly every facet of society from food to the economy, while emphasizing the role of science and demonstrating the importance of proper management of natural resources. “One hundred years ago, 40 percent of the United States workforce was employed in agriculture. Today, that number is