Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Eisenhower sixth-grader Harper Gates looks at microorganisms through a microscope Wednesday at the Mobile Oilfield Learning Unit as Jade Stewart looks on.

Near the birthplace of the oil industry, students visited the Mobile Oilfield Learning Unit this week.

Sixth-graders from all over Warren County School District were bused to Beaty-Warren Middle School to experience the hands-on MOLU on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The students rotate through six stations,” Amy O’Donnell said. “Each station has four interactive activities.”

The hands-on activities ranged from showing what some common drill heads look like to using a robotic arm to microscopic examination of microorganisms.

Evan Turner of Holcombe Energy brought the Houston-based unit to Warren and introduced the students to it.

“It’s a good introduction to the oil and natural gas industry,” Turner said. “A lot of kids don’t know about it.

“There are a ton of great jobs you can get in the field,” he said. “And, it’s just fun.”

Most of the students spent about an hour-and-a-half at the unit.

“My favorite part about this was learning the different porosity,” Beaty sixth-grader Hunter Cummings said.

Porosity is the void space in rock. The hands-on station related to that had three tubes containing liquid and materials of different porosity. As students rotated the tubes, they could see which pour the fluid out fastest and which slowest.

“I learned how the technology is used to find oil,” Trey Retterer said.

Submarines and drones are used in the search, he said.

“My favorite was learning about how you can tell what rocks have oil in them and which don’t,” Haley Stimmell said.

At that station, students saw several rocks. When they pushed a button, ultraviolet light shone on the rocks.

“The ones that glow have oil and the ones that don’t… don’t,” Stimmell said.