Hatching an interest in science

Meet Fred, the newest addition to Jane Ma's Grade 2 class at Forest Grove Elementary.
Fred broke out of his shell in an incubator in the classroom as part of a program called Eggucation, which teaches students about life cycles for science.
According to Ma, the students like the project, and they are recording observations of the chick's lifecycle in booklets.
"They call it Memoirs of My Eggs. Right now, they are writing Memoirs of My Chicks," Ma said.  

When the NOW visited the classroom on Monday, several students were very excited about the baby chick and lined up to offer their comments to the newspaper.
"When the chick comes out, it kind of gets all goopy," said seven-year-old Molly Pisacreta.  
"Before they hatch, they eat the yolk inside the eggs," added Claire Edwards.
Zakir Rajan thought it was "really good" having an egg hatch in class - something he said he's never experienced before.
"I learned how the chicks hatch," he said. "If anyone has a chicken in class, I know what the life cycle is, so I can teach them."
Finn Haraldsson reported that he got to hold the chick and take it home, to watch over it.
"It wasn't ready to sit and stay the weekend all by itself," he told the NOW.
Jenny Leung, whose mom Mina helped bring the egg-hatching project to the class, found the whole experience exciting.
"When it hatched, it was so cute," she said.  
Megan Dykeman, a Langley school trustee and farmer, runs the program and supplies the fertilized eggs, incubator and a microscope, so students can be can peer through the porous shell and watch the embryo in various stages of development.
Dykeman started Eggucation to give kids a chance to be exposed to science and agriculture.
"Kids, immediately, they just slow down when they are around chicks, and they start to ask questions," she said. "That's where you really develop your love of science. That's where you develop your love of animals and empathy."
Eggucation also takes responsibility for the chicks once the class is through with the project. Dykeman said they go back to her farm in Langley to live as "ornamental" chickens or they are part of a 4H program, which teaches youth about agriculture and leadership.
The Eggucation egg-hatching project costs $200, and for Forest Grove, that worked out to about $12 per student. For more information on the project, go to www.eggucation.com.