Olivia Seifert, a third grader in Mrs. Whitney's class, smiles and holds up her unbroken egg as her teachers and classmates cheer for her successful egg drop project.
Using stuffed animals, car sponges, foam blocks, birthday balloons or many other imaginative contraptions to protect a raw egg from a drop off the roof of their school, third graders at Lorane Elementary became engineers yesterday as they tested their knowledge and application of Newton’s Laws. With their teachers standing on the roof of the school, students waited with bated breath as their teachers tossed their handcrafted packages, excitedly scrambling over to the ground to inspect their egg once it had reached the ground, cheering for a successful delivery, or being consoled by classmates for an egg-splosive landing.
Mrs. Taylor Fasig, third grade teacher at Lorane, said that the annual egg drop offers students a unique and enjoyable way to combine their creativity with their knowledge of scientific principles. “The restrictions for this project are pretty minimal since we know the students are just beginning to understand the concepts required for the project,” she said. “We tell the students that there are two ways to protect an egg when dropping it: They need to either slow down the acceleration by using something like a parachute or they need to reduce the force on the egg by providing cushioning… Afterward, we discuss if their egg survived and brainstorm why the egg may not have survived and what they would do differently next time.”
Beyond testing their brain power, Mrs. Fasig says that the activity brings out the best in her students. “The friendly competition ensures that all of the students do their best work and try their hardest, and many of them choose to work with a partner so they are gaining teamwork skills as well.”
This is the fourth year that all third grade classes participated in the most egg-cellent science project together, which is something their teachers say they look forward to all year.