Hereford High School freshman Marshall Feinberg pulled on blue rubber gloves and began snipping at the slippery skin of a raw chicken wing.

"Wish I was Edward Scissorhands right now," he said to lab partner Paul LaMonica, who held down the wing as he continued cutting.

The students were starting a lab meant to give them an up-close look at animal muscles, tendons and bones, in a new animal science class. Baltimore County's Hereford High is one of four high schools in Maryland participating in a pilot that is also being tested in nine other states.

The class is part of the new Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education, also known as CASE, which is aimed at creating a standardized, challenging national curriculum - and inspiring students to pursue careers in that field.

"It was a way to, in essence, package agricultural education differently," said Nancy Trivette, president of the National Council for Agricultural Education, which started the project about three years ago. "It is a very important step, next step, for agricultural education."

That step involves increasing "the rigor of math and science, as well as the relevance of science and math in students' daily academic lives," said Dan Jansen, project director. "We don't have enough graduates for the agricultural jobs that are out there, especially the high-end jobs. ... We realize that we're not training farmers and producers; we're really working on getting the scientists and biotechnicians, with a practical background of agriculture."

Yet CASE also encompasses the more traditional aspects of the field, with Future Farmers of America and a practical, experiential learning component, Jansen and Trivette said.

"They are using agriculture as the foundation to introduce students to concepts in science in general," said Leon Slaughter, associate dean for academic programs for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, College Park.

The studies that students are pursuing "are more like what we see in a traditional biology class," Slaughter added. "What they are doing is adding timely topics in the curriculum."

By adding more rigor to the course work, he said, CASE helps move the agricultural aspect "beyond just the traditional vocational perspective that a lot of people may have when it comes to agriculture," showing them that they can learn science through that field.

The program, which is still in the early stages, will eventually consist of four paths that students can pursue, Jansen said. After starting with an introductory class on agriculture, food and natural resources that is currently being developed, students can then go on to study animal science, plant science, agricultural technology or natural resources and environmental science. A capstone class on agricultural business, research and development would complete the sequence.

The uniform curriculum allows for assessment, creating standards by which every school agriculture program can be measured, Jansen and Trivette said, helping them to be more accountable for student performance - and, in turn, to receive federal money. The inclusion of more science and math components is also aimed at such funding, Jansen said.

State education officials said they were eager to sign on to the pilot, especially with the success they've seen through Project Lead the Way, a program that centers on activity- and project-based learning for pre-engineering and the biomedical sciences - and after which CASE is modeled.

Other schools trying out the program are North Carroll High School, Eastern High School in Talbot County and Kent County High School.

"It's very much inquiry-based. ... It makes the students work to learn, and I think that that's very exciting," Katharine Oliver, assistant state superintendent of career technology education, said of CASE. "It's just a great opportunity for kids to look at the breadth of what they can pursue ... and what one needs to know, in terms of being able to have the knowledge and skill sets, to pursue a career in one of those areas."

Project Lead the Way has increased engagement and improved academic performance among students enrolled, leading to an uptick in the numbers attending college and receiving scholarships, said Oliver and Kathleen McNerney, lead coordinator of the state's career and technology education branch.

The new agricultural curriculum, which similarly is aligned to national standards, should also challenge students, they said, as it integrates concepts from other subject areas, showing them things are linked together. "The idea is that we don't teach them in silos," Oliver said.

"The kids love it," said Heather Schaefer, who teaches the animal science class at Hereford. "They're taking that knowledge to the next level," applying their lessons in labs and projects. She largely leaves them to their own discovery, supplying the occasional hint or suggestion as they work.

During a recent lab on cell respiration, for example, Schaefer moved from one table to another to observe her class' progress.

"How long do you have to stir it for?" one of the teens asked when she came by, referring to a glass vial with a solution inside.

"Does it say right there?" Schaefer replied. She pointed to the lab instructions on his desk, before turning to the next pair.

Having a "nationally recognized program" lifts a burden off teachers, Schaefer said.

"When I started, there was no agricultural science, animal science curriculum," she said, which meant she had to spend more time developing lessons.

Teachers undergo training to teach the CASE classes, essentially taking a condensed version, McNerney said. They also have access to support online throughout the school year, she added. "A lot of the preparation work is done for them."

Hereford teacher Anna Warner will next be piloting CASE's plant agricultural science course.

The Hereford zone is the only part of the county with agricultural instruction, said Rhonda D. Hoyman, the district's technical programs supervisor. If the CASE model works out, Hoyman said, school officials hope to eventually integrate it into other schools.

Schaefer's students said they enjoy the more activities-based aspect of the class.

"I like this better than classwork," said LaMonica, a sophomore, while flexing the chicken wing he and Feinberg were examining.

"With the new curriculum, it's a lot more hands-on, a lot more labs," said junior Amanda Shuster, who wants to go into agricultural education. "We're not learning as much out of a textbook, which I really like."