Eggsellent Earth Science
Eggs…fertility, fragility and signs of new life. No matter how you crack it, eggs pack a big science learning punch! Checkout this GGH blog post for 5 science activities that will connect your students with some green ideas– hold the ham.
1st… The CLASSIC engineering design challenge: Design a container that prevents an egg from cracking when it’s dropped from a serious height. I recommend using materials from the recycling bin and testing with eggs that are hardboiled and edible for snack time!
2nd…. A SILLY science game: sink or float?! What can we put in a plastic egg that would make it sink in a jar of water? (Note: This activity may be an excuse to clean out that junk drawer. Bolts, washers, pennies, clay, gravel, paperclips, marbles are examples.) What could be put in a plastic egg to make it float on water? Key science terms here are: displacement, density, buoyancy. Take lessons further with older kids by working to find neutral buoyancy. This means the egg will not touch the bottom or float to the top but stay in the middle. How could your students create an experiment to compare how objects sink or float in saltwater vs. tapwater? Whichever route you choose; students are building up important experiences with earth’s water, also known as the hydrosphere.
3rd…This GEOLOGY egg activity works to compare planet earth to a hardboiled egg. To help students better understand layers of earth’s geosphere, use a hardboiled egg as a model. Cut the egg in half. The yolk represents inner and outer core. The edible white (cooked albumen) represents the mantle. The shell represents earth’s crust. Please note that magma is from the asthenosphere, or the very outer part of the mantle. When using an egg as a model, the asthenosphere is just below the shell. You could wrap the egg in 1 layer of plastic wrap to represent the thin skin of gases we call the atmosphere. Please note that a hardboiled egg is not the perfect model but does open conversation. Questions you could discuss with students are: Is earth a perfect sphere? Why or why not? (No, gravity) Does each hardboiled egg have the yolk in the middle? Why is are the inner core and outer core of earth in the middle? (gravity)
4th… Connecting CLIMATE LITERACY can happen with eggs too. This works especially well when dying eggs. With a white hardboiled egg, scribble with white crayon on the tops and bottoms of the eggs to represent the arctic areas. Then use blue and green crayon, or food coloring dyes in blue and green to represent planet earth. Questions for eggsellent conversation include: Where is the equator on the egg? Where on the earth egg is most ice located on earth and why? If the egg is earth where do we live? Seasons are caused by earth’s tilted axis- tropical areas have wet and dry seasons. Where are the extreme cold climates and why? Earth’s atmosphere traps heat like a blanket- what can we do to save energy so it traps less heat?
Play. Learn. Love.
April 2017
