Farm Wisconsin has been open for more than a year and a half, and before we closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, we were growing our STEM programming and were planning some fun activities.
Thankfully, before the temporary closure, I was able to attend Einstein Expo, put on by the Einstein Project at the KI Center in Green Bay–and even got to meet little Einstein himself (picture) The Einstein Expo is an annual event that allows kids and families to fully immerse themselves in STEM and explore how it impacts their life and the world around them. We wanted to underscore that STEM is ever-present in Wisconsin agriculture too!
I facilitated one of our STEM projects that students can do when they book a field trip here. At Farm Wisconsin, we do an Egg Lab for all middle and elementary field trips. (If you are interest in learning more about booking your field trip click the link here.) I was able to take one part of that experience and of course I took the most ewy, gewy part! Extracting the membrane! Trust me, you will never look at an egg the same after a class with me! We had over 900 kids participate in this egg activity at Einstein Expo. We successfully extracted more than 400 egg membranes.
What is the membrane of the egg exactly? Well, let me tell you. This thin layer lies between the shell and the egg whites. Once you crack the egg, look at the shell. You will see the shell and what looks like a thin paper. That is the membrane. If you ever so slowly peel this back, you can remove it from the shell. This transparent piece is made out of the same protein your hair is: keratin! This is one of the chick’s defense systems against bacteria. If you try to pull this membrane apart, you will find out that it is very strong.
Now that you know what the membrane is, see if you or your little one can extract it at home and don’t forget to post it! Tag Farm Wisconsin too!
And of course, we didn’t forget the age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken won by a land slide in our unofficial poll.