After a week of building and testing their forces and momentum project, sixth-grade Mountainview Elementary School students were to put their experiment through the final test: delivering an unharmed egg, dropped from high above the ground, by using items to secure a successful landing.
When Camryn Arnold told her students they would be testing their experiments at the front of their school, they didn’t expect to see their local firefighters.
Firefighters from Station 150 in Canyon Country waited for the students to come out as they stood by their engine, with the ladder 85 feet high.
“The kids thought that we were dropping them from a second-story building, so this was a complete surprise to them that we are six stories up,” said Arnold, a sixth-grade teacher at Mountainview.
The students were encouraged to use recycled materials instead of buying items for “The Great Egg Drop,” according to Arnold.
They used empty bags of chips, containers, shipping boxes, shopping bags, latex balloons, and even straws.
“When it kind of clicked, it was just awesome for them to go, ‘Oh no, we should’ve planned better,’” added Arnold. “They were still trying to logistically plan as they were walking out and I said, ‘Sorry, we’re done.”
And although some eggs withstood the fall, others didn’t have the same fate.
“My egg didn’t survive and I even put it in a box and inside a pillow,” said Colby McKelvey, a student who participated in the experiment.
Arnold says the STEM project was a great opportunity for students to work on their building and problem-solving skills while also working within a group setting.
“This project was to make school fun while learning,” she added.
