Eggs-Periment Teaches Kids About Science

Poised like a modern-day Da Vinci on a second-story balcony at Cal State Northridge, 11-year-old Normee Darwish reached out and let fly a strange contraption of sticks, straws and string.

Despite a paper parachute, the barrel-shaped craft plummeted to the cement with an ominous thump. As a crowd surged around the crash site, an urgent question burned: Did the passenger survive?

Gladys Sorensen stepped forward to inspect. Peeking inside, she saw that the lone voyager--an ordinary egg--remained intact.

“It’s OK,” she said to the group of excited students. “It survived.”

The outdoor exercise was part of a five-week science course designed to teach middle school students concepts in chemistry, biology and physics. Approximately 850 students are participating in CSUN’s Summer Academic Enrichment Program this year.

“They’re designing something and trying it out, and in the meantime they’re learning different theories of science,” explained Sorensen, who teaches science at Patrick Henry Middle School in Granada Hills.

The day began with a frantic 25-minute classroom session in which the students had to build the crafts from scratch. Using nothing more than rubber bands, straws, sticks, paper, string and tape, the challenge was to create something that would not only protect the egg but also strike a target on the ground.

“It looks really weird,” Allie Yen, 10, said of her group’s design on the way to the testing ground, but her fears proved unwarranted. Built by Allie and classmates Normee, Sarita Barton and Ophelia Yuen, theirs was the only capsule that protected its cargo out of seven groups.

Alas, the egg did not survive the next test, a fall from a third-story balcony, but Sarita said the success of the maiden flight was enough to show the boys in the class that girls are capable scientists and engineers, too.

“I just want to go shove it in their face,” she said gleefully.