The Incredible Egg

The egg. 

The total package.  Tasty breakfast, genesis of cute fuzzy chicks, and the ultimate teaching tool. 

I've recently come to realize that an egg is the ultimate science teaching tool.  What other object can be used to teach osmosis, embryonic development, scientific measurement, chemical reactions, and the scientific method.  I have used eggs to teach osmosis and chemical reactions and osmosis every year that I have been teaching school.  What I didn't realize about the egg is that it is a great tool for teaching many other science practices. The last two years, my classes have hatched chickens and ducks near the end of the school year.  The quest for a high percentage hatch has led my students to use the scientific method without knowing they were using it. We have tried changing the humidity level on each new hatch and have found that it matters greatly to the hatch rate.  We have also experimented with assisting chicks with hatching.  I had done this before and knew the risks of helping too early and not helping early enough.  The greatest life lesson is life itself.  On top of all of this, it does the most important thing in teaching.  It gets students interested.