Makefield kids learn that ‘Chicks are a lot like us!’
PENNSBURY – Seven chicks recently made an exciting debut at Makefield Elementary School.
Yes, it was a lot of fun, but the tiny peeping creatures were part of a broad project in embryology.
To kids, it may be a funny word, but embryology at Makefield encompasses something as simple as helping and watching a feathery friend hatch from a brown egg.
“Chicks are a lot like us!” said Julie Cohen, one of the students.
“They have a mother and a father -- a hen and a rooster,” Julie said. “They drink water and eat food, and they also act like a family.”
For Julie, the experience was like a lesson in psychology. She observed chicks’ behavior with great fascination.
“Sometimes they are extremely aggressive to the other chicks,” the youngster said. “Other times, they are shy and only want to be with their family.”
The chicks love to be in pairs just like kids and adults, according to Cohen. “Lastly, chicks love to sleep like humans,” she said.
Teacher Alison Majikas included as many subject areas as possible when planning the project. “It really sparked curiosity, encouraged responsibility and provided an understanding of the embryonic cycle,” she said.
The project lasted from Sept. 20 to 27. “We really only had Thursday afternoon, Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday with the eggs and chicks,” the teacher said.
One day was with the eggs, which were in an incubator, and three days with the chicks.
She said that students learn about the embryology of a chicken and how to care for a fertilized chicken egg and a chick.
Pennsylvania state science standards include the study of life cycles of living things. “Also, our fourth-grade students complete an “Animal Unit of Study” in science and this was an extension,” Majikas said.
The program was made possible when a special visitor came to Makefield. Loretta Rush, a program assistant with the Penn State Extension/4-H, delivered seven fertilized eggs, feed, a feeder and an incubator.
Rush presented a four-minute program on embryology for the gifted students in grades 3, 4 and 5. The eggs remained in an incubator for four days until they began hatching.
After hatching, the chicks were moved to a large tank. Students observed the eggs and the chicks.
Students could hear the chicks peeping while the chicks were still in the egg. The eggs would move back and forth. When they hatched, they were wet, weak and wobbly-legged.
“Within 24 hours they were sure-footed, dry, fluffy yellow and adorable,” Majikas said. “They chirped frequently.”
She said their seven hatched and became healthy-looking chicks.
The hatching process is simple. “We turned them three times a day,” Majikas said. “We kept their incubator moist and kept the incubator temperature at 100 degrees.”
There were many parts of this project, not just the topic of embryology, according to the teacher. “Our students learned and recited a poem,” Majikas said. “They read non-fiction and fiction children’s books featuring chicks. Students are writing their own stories.”
Although the
gifted
eggs seven
students had the benefit of learning about embryology from the 4-H program assistant and seeing/observing the chicks in the classroom, all Makefield students were involved either by touring Majikas’ room, observing the chicks and writing about their experience, or participating in an enrichment lesson involving eggs and chicks.
The enrichment lessons involved using higher level thinking skills and math skills.
Majikas said there was an incredible “energy surrounding the hatching of the chicks” for all students – and teachers – at Makefield.
Ben Morschauser and Peter Beidler said the hatching process was “amazing.”
The youths said they left Friday and came back on Monday “and you could hear them cheeping and could see them moving the egg. At the end of the day on Monday, three had hatched and by the next morning all of them had hatched. It was truly amazing!”
Gianna Vitucci said she learned that chicks take a short time to hatch and the process is called embryology.
“I also learned that the eggs can be more than just one color,” she said. “They come in speckled brown, green, blue and just plain brown.”
Also, they can be “hungry, thirsty, athletic, aggressive and a leader.”
Julia Neubaum and Erika Hansen agreed it’s hard to know whether they’ll use any of this experience later in life. If they ever want to learn more about baby animals it would be very useful, according to the students.