By Ben Fitch
Emporia Gazette – September 13, 2013
The fifth-grade class at Walnut Elementary was tasked with one challenge Thursday: to keep all their eggs in one basket; a very protective basket.
The two classes of 39 fifth-graders were learning about the scientific method. They were presented with a question: how could they protect an egg from breaking when dropped from 50 feet?
Students developed a variety of hypotheses — some of an intuitive nature; others more out of the ordinary — and listed the materials they would use in building a protective device.
The imagination of students at Walnut was all too apparent in some of their ideas. Joel Cedillo and his partner Luiz del Alba modeled their device after a cloud, presumably the softest occurrence in nature.
They used cotton balls and other household materials to build it.
Trevor Mathews, fifth-grade teacher of math, science and social studies, said students were instructed to use materials they could find around the house.
“I asked them not to go buy things,” he said. “It’s just whatever they could find and to be creative with it.”
Next, teams of two developed the procedure, which — and those who paid attention in science class will remember — involves setting up the experiment itself: building the device, deciding what to test and making predictions.
Ayesha Bhatti and Cassie Lane used a peanut butter jar filled with cotton balls and tissues to cushion their egg.
“It was the first thing that came to us, and we thought it was a good idea,” Lane said.
Finally, Thursday, the observation stage began: all of the fun and most exciting parts of an experiment, and a great opportunity to watch an egg go “splat” when dropped from 50 feet, or not.
“They are going to record observations of what they see as its falling, as we are testing it,” Mathews said. “Then, at the end, for their conclusion they are going to tell what they learned from the experiment.”
The Emporia Fire Department volunteered a fire truck and two firefighters for the experiment. There was a miscommunication, however, and the firetruck showed up to the back of the school at 2:45 p.m.
Students had been waiting in front of the school for 15 minutes before the confusion was resolved, and a cacophony of cheers erupted at the sight of the truck pulling around the corner of the school.
Firefighter and EMT Matt Slade dropped each contraption from a ladder at 50 feet. Then, the surviving eggs were dropped again from 70 feet. Slade dropped a bucket attached to a rope and drew up each encased egg.
When firefighters are often making visits to people on their worst days, it was nice to connect with the community for something fun like an egg drop, Slade said.
At a drop from 70 feet, Slade said it would take a big parachute and lots of padding to protect an egg.
The parachute model was indeed a popular and effective design, and it protected many eggs. Others, however, were not so lucky.
Brooke Gardner and Katrianna Davis used a plastic jar with Twinkies stuffed into the bottom and string on top.
“The string wasn’t enough padding,” Gardner said as she drew out a wad of string soaked in yellow yolk.
The model took the pair three days to build. So, what did they learn about the scientific method?
“That it doesn’t always work,” Davis said.
Mathews said he might try to make the experiment a little more challenging next year by excluding the use of parachutes.
“I think the kids enjoyed it, and they learned a lot in the process,” he said.
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