Coddled, Not Boiled

In December, Project Lab expanded to a second classroom, a beautiful, sunny science lab right below us. We added the room in order to develop a project called The Egg Unit. Thanks to an extremely generous donation from longtime supporters, we acquired a refrigerator, a variety of salts and peppers, steamers, and an unlimited amount of eggs, which are delivered right to our room every Wednesday. We were even provided with paper boats for eating off of. To go with the eggs, we developed a hands-on, multidisciplinary curriculum that draws upon biology, social studies, math, and language arts. Here’s how Jamiah, a 9th grader, describes the experience:

Eggs work in mysterious ways. Over the past 5 months we have been eating eggs every E-day (Eating Day) as a project. The point was to help students in Project Lab get more energy and protein from eating eggs on a regular basis. I personally thought that eggs were gonna be nasty considering I had never eaten an egg in this form before, I only ate scrambled or fried. But after trying them it really brightened my horizon to more ways. There are a lot of ways to cook and consume an egg. We also got a steamer to steam them. We studied the different parts and elements of the egg, as well as how they are produced and how long it takes a chicken produce them. The yolk, albumen, shell, chalazae, germinal disc and the membrane are all parts of an egg. With this lesson we learned about how eggs work and how they help us in this world.