This was egg day--a tradition on the team that stretches back all of 2 years now. Here is what we did: we divided the team up into 31 smaller teams of students, picked randomly, and gave them a challenge: create a structure out of supplies sold at our store that would allow an egg to fall from a height without breaking. We dropped twice--once in the morning, once in the afternoon. Our goal was multi fold: to let the students work in cooperative groups with people they were not necessarily friends with, to learn from mistakes, to think creatively, to manage money (they were given $200 egg-bucks to start the day), to use the process of scientific inquiry, and of course, to have fun. It was a break from our normal day to day routine, which everyone benefits from.
The first drop today was from 12 feet; nine groups survived. The second drop was from 30 feet; I don't have the data on how many survived, but I believe the number was higher. This is success, to me, that we learned from our mistakes, from the work of others, and made improvements. This is how the United States made it to the moon (to the stars)--with effort.
We took 385 pictures of the day, an amazing amount. This would have been over 10 rolls before the age of digital pictures. We showed a slide show during study hall at the end of the day, which was a great way to end. And to that I say: sweet justice.
