After a breakfast of fruit bars, oatmeal bars and juice, we hopped on a bus and headed for the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Ludlow-Taylor was on a roll.

The parkway was lined with late-fall colors – sepias and siennas, chocolates and charcoals, with intermittent splashes of evergreen. But the third- and fourth-graders didn’t notice. They were either chattering excitedly about the trip or still trying to rub the sandman out of their eyes.

We were on our way to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. The kids came from Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School and Community Academy Public Charter School. The Ludlow kids included third-graders Obse, Davon and Alyiya and fourth-graders Demarco, Destiny, Ciera and Sincere. Most of the fourth-graders had taken this trip before. Destiny remembered packing an egg in a box; if the egg was properly packed you could drop the box without breaking the egg. Sincere wanted to learn more about the universe. (He was a little unsure about just what the universe was, but then, who of us isn’t?) Ciera at first wasn’t sure she wanted to be a scientist, but then she decided that she did want to be a scientist – and a teacher and an artist and a doctor. Maybe Ciera had learned in Ms. Francis’s class the famous dictum from the great architect Daniel Burnham: “Make no little plans.”

The Maryland Science Center, which is on the Baltimore Inner Harbor, offers an interactive science experience that immediately engages young and old alike. A pile of sand doesn’t look very interesting, but in your role as archeologist, you brush away the sand to discover a dinosaur’s skull or a mastodon’s leg bone or a turtle. Nearby you see a swirl of vapor forming a tornado. Why, when you put your hand in the middle of the tornado, does it collapse? Do birds really come from dinosaurs? Where do stars come from?

A favorite place to experiment is the wet lab where the kids donned white lab coats and rubber gloves. Then the young scientists prepared to extract vegetable DNA. “You’re going to love this,” the lab aid assured the kids. “DNA looks just like boogers.” The scientists measured, mixed and stirred – wheat germ, soap, water, meat tenderizer and baking soda. Then they transferred their mixture to a test tube and stirred with a glass rod. After a short interval they lifted their glass rods, and there it was – DNA. And, sure enough, it looked just like boogers.

Another favorite was the chemical reaction demonstration – with student participation, of course. We learned what a reactant was and a product. We learned that an endothermic reaction creates energy, such as heat and light. The light from a lightning bug comes from an endothermic reaction. We learned that an exothermic reaction does just the opposite; it absorbs energy. Our exothermic experiment caused the product to turn so cold that it froze. We also learned that a catalyst can be added to an experiment to make the reaction go faster, but the catalyst does not change the way the reactant does. At the end of the experiment, the catalyst is exactly the same as it was before.

There isn’t nearly enough space here to describe all the extraordinary, hands-on learning opportunities at the center. And there wasn’t nearly enough time while we were there to take them all in. It was time to go home. On the bus the kids were quizzed about what they had learned. Then the quiz turned into a more general game of knowledge. Barack Obama will be president number what? (44). What is 13 squared? (169). What’s the capital of Tennessee? (Nashville). Who is the vice-president elect? (Silence. We didn’t get that one.)

The questions were posed by Hardy Vieux and Loree Lipstein, both of the Duke Club of Washington (DCW), who led this field trip. The club is made up of Duke University alumni who volunteer their time with their partner schools, including Ludlow-Taylor. They sponsor a Saturday trip each month while school is in session. They have partnered with Ludlow-Taylor in various capacities for over 20 years. DCW, as well as many other partners, helps broaden and enrich the learning experience at Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School. Ludlow-Taylor is on a roll.