Scientific learning took to the skies on Oct. 22 at the Menands School when a fourth-grade science project shattered expectations and left students a little shell-shocked at how much fun science can be.
Students in Christina Rowland and Caterina Burns’ fourth grade classes spent part of the last week creating packages to protect eggs from a violent collision. Using supplies such as sponges, tin pans, diapers and straws, the students worked on devices that would keep the raw eggs whole following a drop from an undetermined height.
On Tuesday, Principal Kathleen Wylie put those packages to the test, dropping them and their eggs from a height of 40 feet thanks to the help of the Menand’s Fire Department, which lent the use of a firefighter and a ladder truck.
Rowland said the whole idea is to get students excited about learning science and to appreciate the sunny side of learning .
“They have been very excited to learn about motion energy and what happens in a collision,” she said. “They couldn’t wait to see what happened when Ms. Wylie tested their work.”
Of the 10 packages dropped from 40 feet, six survived with the eggs intact.
Those packages were then brought to a height of 60 feet and dropped. Two survived that fall.
While their devices were tested to see if they left the eggs scrambled or whole, students collected a variety of data about the test and the results. Meanwhile, third grade students looked on and got excited for the possibilities of their own “egg-cellent” adventures in science next school year.
“The project was really fun because we are learning about motion energy, and this is a fun way to learn about it,” said Amaya Kissee, who, along with classmates Lokesh Dubaguntla and Preeda Mucheli, created one of the winning packages.
Fellow fourth grader Theresia Kusakana worked by herself to design and construct the other winning package.
“It was a lot of fun because we got to learn about motion energy and have our eggs dropped,” she said.
