Approximately 200 Central Middle School sixth-graders participated in their science classes Egg Drop experiment Monday afternoon. The Bartlesville Fire Department brought a fire truck to the school to help with the students with their projects.

Equipment Operator Steve Burnett says they have helped Central with this in the past to make science fun for kids. He says he has worked with the Bartlesville Fire Department for about 13-years and that the department loves helping with the Egg Drop when Central puts it on for their sixth graders.

Elaine Swanson, a teacher at Central, says the 8 sixth-grade classes have been learning about invisible forces such as static electricity, gravity and friction. The students have also been learning about the Mars Rovers and air resistance as well.

Swanson says they held the event for their sixth-graders when Central was going through their renovations then had a hiatus from the event for awhile before bringing it back. She says the sixth-grade teachers really wanted to give their students a hands-on learning experience that all the students could enjoy. 

The students and their projects ranged in size and weight. The objective was to keep the egg inside their project from cracking. Swanson says some students spent weeks working on their projects while others threw something together that afternoon before the Egg Drop.

Kids watched in excitement their projects fall two-stories to the pavement at Central. Those that survived were dropped again from four-stories high. The students could only watch eagerly as the remaining projects made their descent. All of this was done in the name of science and thoughtful teaching.