Saturday, February 19, 2005
The yolk's on me...
Yesterday was the first ever Underwood High School Egg Drop. The idea is a simple one, recreated at colleges and high schools alike: design a container that will protect an egg from breaking after being dropped/shot a distance particularly unfriendly to egg shells. In our case, the drop was performed from the second floor balcony of the school's Marble Hall onto an unforgiving stone floor. About 30-40% of student designs proved successful, and my fellow science teacher and I learned a great deal in running the event:
* DO let security know that you will be holding an all-day science event in a publicly accessible place.
* DO put all eggs into ziploc bags before loading them into containers. The bags may still break, but cleanup is a lot easier.
* DO contact the yearbook staff. I had almost forgotten to do this, but a chance encounter with the yearbook advisor ensured that the event would be immortalized.
* DO encourage other students to serve in administrative tasks like keeping track of who has already dropped their containers and the results of the drop.
* DO buy extra eggs. You never know how many students will bring in a project the day after they were supposed to.
* DO NOT invite other classes to attend unless their teachers are willing to come supervise.
* DO NOT leave student designs in an area accessible to the audience. Two of the groups in my class were out on a field trip and will likely be quite upset to learn that someone damaged their hard work.
* DO NOT allow students to use balloons. This time, we allowed it, but in the future, they will be banned. They make things too easy. Same with bubble wrap. Also after the drop, kids delighted in popping the balloons in their designs as loudly as possible.
* DO NOT allow students access to materials like tape, scissors, etc. if you tell them there will be no modifications after turning in the project. I had one kid add a half roll of tape to his design and then deny it to my face. I told him that's fine. You cheated and even if you deny it, I know it to be true. You will lose points. And then he looked at me like I was crazy.
* DO NOT get your hopes up about the media dropping by to see what's going on. As one teacher told me at the end of the day, the TV stations I contacted (all 3 of them) would have been crowding around if we were dropping STUDENTS from the second floor, but show them performing an experiment, even a fun one, is not generally deemed newsworthy.
Anyhow, there are probably other suggestions, but those are the ones that come to mind immediately.
In honor of the whole egg drop thing, allow me to present this animation made by people who like eggs more than anyone I have ever met: The Korean Egg Council.
Yesterday was the first ever Underwood High School Egg Drop. The idea is a simple one, recreated at colleges and high schools alike: design a container that will protect an egg from breaking after being dropped/shot a distance particularly unfriendly to egg shells. In our case, the drop was performed from the second floor balcony of the school's Marble Hall onto an unforgiving stone floor. About 30-40% of student designs proved successful, and my fellow science teacher and I learned a great deal in running the event:
* DO let security know that you will be holding an all-day science event in a publicly accessible place.
* DO put all eggs into ziploc bags before loading them into containers. The bags may still break, but cleanup is a lot easier.
* DO contact the yearbook staff. I had almost forgotten to do this, but a chance encounter with the yearbook advisor ensured that the event would be immortalized.
* DO encourage other students to serve in administrative tasks like keeping track of who has already dropped their containers and the results of the drop.
* DO buy extra eggs. You never know how many students will bring in a project the day after they were supposed to.
* DO NOT invite other classes to attend unless their teachers are willing to come supervise.
* DO NOT leave student designs in an area accessible to the audience. Two of the groups in my class were out on a field trip and will likely be quite upset to learn that someone damaged their hard work.
* DO NOT allow students to use balloons. This time, we allowed it, but in the future, they will be banned. They make things too easy. Same with bubble wrap. Also after the drop, kids delighted in popping the balloons in their designs as loudly as possible.
* DO NOT allow students access to materials like tape, scissors, etc. if you tell them there will be no modifications after turning in the project. I had one kid add a half roll of tape to his design and then deny it to my face. I told him that's fine. You cheated and even if you deny it, I know it to be true. You will lose points. And then he looked at me like I was crazy.
* DO NOT get your hopes up about the media dropping by to see what's going on. As one teacher told me at the end of the day, the TV stations I contacted (all 3 of them) would have been crowding around if we were dropping STUDENTS from the second floor, but show them performing an experiment, even a fun one, is not generally deemed newsworthy.
Anyhow, there are probably other suggestions, but those are the ones that come to mind immediately.
In honor of the whole egg drop thing, allow me to present this animation made by people who like eggs more than anyone I have ever met: The Korean Egg Council.
