Count Down!
On a recent rainy Friday morning, I popped into Julie Hilker’s eighth grade science class and was blown away by the engagement and enthusiasm that permeated the classroom. “What in the world is going on?” I wondered. I quickly turned to a student on a ladder and asked her to tell me what was happening. She responded, “We are doing an egg drop. Mr. Haney’s class did it yesterday.”
I immediately thought, “This reminds me of the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square.” While I have never been on site to witness it, I can’t believe it would be any more exciting than what I was experiencing with these students. For the New Year’s Eve drop, the ball is attached to a flagpole, while for the big egg drop, it was attached to nothing.
The egg drop is a physics and engineering activity where participants design and build a protective container for a raw egg, which is then dropped from a height to determine if it survives without breaking.
I waited with bated breath as the last pair of students put their final touches on their egg, which was packed in a homemade container of Styrofoam, cotton and steel wool. The student ascended the ladder and then came the drop. No question, hearts were pounding as the team meticulously removed the wrappings and checked out the egg. Gleefully, they announced the egg had survived!
In my judgment, this inquiry project is truly remarkable. It gives students a peek at engineering principles in a tantalizing way! What an attention grabber for learning about velocity, mass and impact forces!
Being very curious by nature, I popped into Julie’s class on Monday for debriefing. For anyone thinking, “Oh yes, just another gimmicky lesson.” I assure you it was quite the contrary! I was struck by the intensity of conversation and the seriousness of the students. The depth of their learning prior to the drop was obviously impressive, and their analysis would impress any scientist!
