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Perry Hill Elementary challenges students with annual egg drop experiments

Perry Hill's head custodian Dan Ward uses a crane to drop the eggs from the ceiling while kids from all grades come to watch.
Ella Abbott
/
WBOI
Perry Hill's head custodian Dan Ward uses a crane to drop the eggs from the ceiling while kids from all grades come to watch.

Every year, fourth graders at Perry Hill Elementary are given the challenge of designing a device that will protect an egg as it's dropped from 20 feet in the air. Students gather together, right before spring break, to watch the eggs fall and see whose egg survives and whose doesn’t.

Fourth grader Onik Denton inspects his egg after it had been dropped from 20 feet to the cafeteria floor.
Ella Abbott
/
WBOI News
Fourth grader Onik Denton inspects his egg after it had been dropped from 20 feet to the cafeteria floor.

Onik Denton covered a metal tray with marshmallows and peeps and created a “seatbelt” with pipe cleaners to hold his egg in the middle.

“I think I’ll probably make it through because I tested it a lot at my house," he said.
Onik’s teacher, Kate Jones said the egg drop can serve as a good introduction into the science behind the drop.

“It’s more just for fun and talking about speed, motion and how can we get that speed to slow down,” she said.

Onik’s egg did survive the drop, and he also won the artist award for his design – one of several awards teachers give out in certain categories.

Ella Abbott is a multimedia reporter for 89.1 WBOI. She is a strong believer in the ways audio storytelling can engage an audience and create a sensory experience.