I shopped for a fun project I’m about to do at school today. I thought I’d linked to it last year when I did it for the first time, but apparently I didn’t. I give you: The Eggnaut – or “Houston, we may have an omelette!” Using only drinking straws, popsicle sticks, rubber bands, some string and masking tape, the kids have to build a landing vehicle that keeps a raw egg from cracking after dropped about three to five metres.

Last year I did this project with a bunch of fourteen-year-olds, and everybody had great fun. The students designed some very different landing vehicles, some using parachutes, some just padding the egg and hoping for the best. But apart from having fun the students learn a lot about aerodynamics, how to cushion the fall and how to be creative with few materials while working together in a group, which involves discussing and compromising on a solution.

Projects like this one are known as egg races, named after a UK TV show. See some examples: Creative Chemistry Egg Races.

Auf deutsch heißt das Projekt oder Egg Race, das ich durchführen werde, Der Eiernaut oder “Houston, es gibt Rührei!” Weitere Egg Races und Anregungen findet man auf der Egg Race-Seite der Erich-Kästner-Realschule; insbesondere sind einige nette Egg Races aus Physik und Technik dabei.