Agriculture plays an important role in our daily lives, yet how much do students really understand about how agriculture factors into what they do every day? Do students understand what goes into the food they eat, the clothes they buy, the games they play? Out of sight often times means out of mind and increasingly this important topic is not fully understood by many children because they have little exposure to agricultural settings.

This year The MAiZE—a puzzle carved into 12 acres of cornstalks over your head—is offering field trips in an effort to provide a unique, fun, educational activity to expose Louisiana’s children to “agriculture in the process.” The MAiZE offers students the opportunity to become acquainted with agriculture in an environment that is new and unusual for those who have little exposure to life on a farm. It allows students to be in the middle of a cornfield, learning about all that goes into raising crops while enjoying the experience of finding the maze’s one and only exit. The experience will also allow teachers the opportunity to educate children about concepts such as farming, nutrition, ecosystems and conservation through hand-on exposure to these principles.

Hands-on learning experiences are always best when students have been prepared for what they are about to encounter. Attached please find a teachers guide and activity sheet designed to help generate lesson ideas and activities that will challenge your students’ knowledge about agriculture. The MAiZE experience will help solidify and test students on the information learned in the classroom while making the subject matter applicable in real-life situations.

The MAiZE field trip experience will be available to first through eighth grade elementary and junior high classes. At the field trip site, employees will give a brief introduction to the maze, including how it was made and the agricultural principles behind it. Educational passports will be available for you and your students to lead you through a self-guided tour of the labyrinth. Ten stations corresponding to the 10 questions on the passport will be posted on the correct pathway out of the maze. Students will be instructed to turn left or right according to their answers to the agricultural questions posed to them on the passport. Correct answers will lead them through the pathways to the only exit. Students will get lost and have fun, learning about agriculture along the way. The MAiZE experience will last approximately 30-45 minutes.

The MAiZE field trips will be offered September 12th through October 31st. The cost of the field trip is $3 per student, with no additional costs for teachers and accompanying chaperones. Tours are subject to good weather. If you would like to make a reservation for your class or need additional information, please call Louis Shove at 318-793-8112.