The Drop

When I was in the fifth grade, our teacher had us pair up to pack an egg in a shoebox using any sort of packing material we thought would protect the egg. Then he dropped them from the roof of the school. According to the article that accompanied this picture, the first time we did the experiment half of our eggs broke. The second time only 3 out of 14 broke.

One of the challenges I've had in designing the transitional skills course I teach at the jail is that most of the inmates aren't going to be applying what we talk about straightaway. Whenever possible, I try to give them images that represent some of the concepts so they'll have a better chance of remembering them later.

I use the egg drop experiment to illustrate the idea of creating cushion in our lives--a margin of error that can keep our eggs from breaking when something goes wrong. Like having a backup plan for child care so we don't risk losing our job when the regular babysitter falls through. Or giving ourselves extra time to get to a job interview in case the bus is late. Or not using up all of our sick days when we're not really sick so we can use them when we are.

I'm so glad I found this picture. I honestly couldn't remember the outcome. Now I can tell my classes with confidence that, at least on our second try, our egg survived.