Contest teaches science, math lessons

There’s a saying that if you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.
While omelets weren’t on the menu Monday morning, breaking several eggs came with the territory for about 97 Opelika Middle School sixth-graders who participated in an education-based egg-drop contest.
The activity was part of the science and math lessons the students have been learning this year.
The object was to create a device that would absorb the shock of being dropped while protecting the raw egg contained inside it.
“We studied in our textbooks about how NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) lands probes on Mars and how they use parachutes, airbags and retrorockets to do this,” said OMS science teacher Melissa Cherry, who said students also had to apply the scientific method in creating their egg-cradling contraptions.
Several mathematics lessons were part of the egg drop as well, according to OMS math teacher John Ramey.
“We’ve discussed the weight and volume specifications of their projects,” said Ramey.
The eggs were dropped by Opelika firefighters at 50-, 75- and 100-degree feet distances from an Opelika Fire Department ladder truck.
Those that survived the initial impact advanced to the next round to be dropped from progressively higher distances until a winner was declared.
When the egg drop was done, 10 students won. But the real prize was the science and math they learned, Cherry said.
“Activities like this are a chance for students who might not excel in the classroom to do well in a hands-on situation,” said Cherry. “Students can learn the scientific method all day in a classroom, but when they actually get to come up with a hypothesis and test it, it really makes the lesson come alive for them.”