Egg Observations
Introduction
How good do kids think they are at figuring things out? That’s what scientists do.
They use the ‘scientific process’ to understand the world and how it works—asking questions, guessing what the answer might be (form a hypothesis), testing it out (experiment, gather data), and seeing if they’re right and what more they want to
discover. Get kids involved in the scientific process with a familiar object.
Learning Objective
Students will learn about scientific process. Practice observation, hypothesis
and critical thinking skills.
Materials
- One hard boiled egg
- Chart Paper
- Markers
Activity
- Ask: What do scientists do when they discover
new things? - Write down student responses on a large piece of chart paper. (Include things like look carefully, experiment, research past work.)
- Instruct: Pretend you are a scientist. Look carefully and describe the special object I’m about to reveal.
- Hold up the egg. Do not give the students any information about the egg.
- Instruct: Describe the egg without touching it. Chart observations on chart paper with markers.
- Instruct: Guess what will happen to the egg if it is thrown against the wall. (Most students will say that the egg will break and splatter on the wall and floor.)
- Throw the egg against the wall.
- Instruct: Observe what happens. (The egg may crack, but will not splatter because it was hard boiled.)
- Debrief: Why didn’t the egg splatter?
- Discuss: Your guess about what would happen to our egg (hypothesis) is an assumption. The fact that the egg didn’t splatter is something un-expected.
- Discuss: The role of a scientist is to make observations, make guesses, and then test those guesses. When you engage in scientific work, you are also looking carefully, making guesses about outcome, testing the outcome and then considering what happened at the end.
- In future sessions, provide additional opportunities to practice scientific observation, making a hypothesis, and experimentation.
![[foundations]](/images/foundationslogo.gif){kind=small}