Today I did an egg project with my class to help them understand that it doesn't matter what color your skin is - inside we are all the same. I took a brown egg and a white egg and we talked all about the differences and similarities. Then we cracked them into a bowl and they are supposed to be the same... but the yolk from the brown egg was orange and the yolk from the white egg was yellow! How do you explain that one away... kind of killed the whole point. Any suggestions?
The difference in yolk color usually results from differences in what the hens were fed. If the hen's diet is high in xanthophylls - yellow-orange plant pigments (xantho- is Greek for 'yellow'), then the resulting yolk will be yellow-orange; evidently it's possible, with the right feed, to produce a nearly colorless yolk (ick!).
The moral, of course, is that one needs to try out one's demonstration to be sure it will show what one intends. I got nailed that way some years ago, while blithely discussing the probability of flipping heads with a quarter. It's 50%, right? But a student, on examining the coin, disagreed vigorously. And was right: the quarter I keep for that purpose is Canadian - one side has Elizabeth II, but the other side has the head of a moose. The experience left me with, um, egg on my face.
You're too much!!! (in a good way!) Now, could you help me with wording in my Reading Specialist thread? :thanks: And sorry for the hijack!
Once did an experiment for an observation that involved predicting which would have more seeds, a small lemon, a medium orange or a large grapefruit. We all guessed and made a chart and when we cut them all open, NONE of them had any seeds! My principal just laughed, but I was mortified!
I did the exact same demonstration about a yr ago but i used plastic easter eggs and let them decorate them with yarn for hair and googly eyes and stuff and when they broke them open they all had 7 red m&ms in them. It worked well.
I love it teach_kids: the problem might be solved if you buy organic eggs for both brown and white eggs because they are more likely to have a more consistent diet between each other. We graphed seeds inside of fruit last year and our oranges had no seeds but it actually turned out fine because little kids struggle with the concept of 0 on a graph and it really helped it make sense. This year I am going to make sure to get seedless oranges
You want navel oranges, then, Tasha: the ones with what looks sort of like a bellybutton at the blossom end.
I am doing the egg experiment today. I checked last night and cracked a white/brown egg. Both looked the same inside! Now the question is, do I decorate the eggs with faces?
This is the fourth year I have done the egg experiment without any problems. Believe me, I held my breath as I cracked my eggs today after reading the original post. The yolks were the same. My daughter and aides laughed so hard when I told them about the post. I think we can all relate because things like this have happened to all of us.
The problem with this experiment is that you can't really check the inside of the egg before you do it. I had gotten the idea from many sites about MLK day and everyone ranted how great the experiment was... what a bust!
