The Great Egg Drop!

In order to re-introduce (or introduce...) the scientific method to my students, I wanted to find a fun experiment that would get them thinking about all the steps. So I searched on Pinterest (yes, this is an addictive hobby...don't start unless you know what you're getting yourself into) and found the Great Egg Drop Experiment!

First, you have to ask a question. What do you want to know about? Why do you want to know it? The second step is to then research your question. Has anyone asked your question before? What can you find out about your topic? Third step in the scientific method is to form a hypothesis. We understood the term hypothesis as not only a guess, but an educated guess based on what we researched and what we know. After forming the hypothesis, you need to test your hypothesis by designing an experiment and recording the data. Once you've performed your experiment, you need to analyze your data. Did your data match your hypothesis? And finally, you need to draw conclusions about the results. What did you learn? Was your hypothesis correct? What questions do you have now?

Students worked in groups to determine the answer to this question: Is it possible to drop an egg from the second story without it breaking? Some students went home and thought about it while others asked family members, friends, and/or neighbors. Students collaborated with their teams to come up with the best way to drop a raw egg from the top of the stairs and keep it from breaking! And boy, was there a lot of sketching, trials (without the egg), and so forth.

We concluded that it was possible to drop an egg without it breaking, but not every group was able to come up with a protective solution. Watch the video to see what happened!