Alfred Sutton Primary School

Hatching a project - an eggciting idea

Teacher: Mrs Ruth Ryley
Scientist: Dr Viv Rimmer, University of Reading

Ruth Ryley already had an idea for a project based on chick development before following up a contact at the nearby University of Reading. Research technician Viv Rimmer was able to involve pupils from the outset by bringing her own chicks into the classroom to start the children thinking. The main aims were to study at first hand the incubation, hatching and development of young bantam chicks and to encourage pupils to develop responsible attitudes towards the care of living things.

"We want to find out about the eggs before they hatch. How much do they weigh? How much do the chicks grow each day? What do they do after hatching?"Steve Conteh, Year 6 pupil

Initial interest among Year 6 was high, and Ruth invited those wanting to be involved to write her a letter of application. For those with any qualms about what would happen to the hens at the end of the term, Ruth had already found a home with someone in the Reading and District Bantam Club.

While much of the Partnership Grant was spent on equipment necessary for hatching and looking after the chicks, a video camera was also purchased in order to record behaviour accurately and create a video diary. This enabled the pupils to undertake more detailed investigations into the process of hatching, interactions between chicks and other objects, and other behaviours such as pecking and calling. But the use of eggs also stimulated a wider enquiry into the strength of eggs, and why some broke when being boiled. Sophie Crabtree even used her experience with the chicks to enter a creative writing competition.

"This project has been the most successful I have ever done." Ruth Ryley

For Ruth, the main benefit of co-ordinating the project was the satisfaction of seeing it through from conception to completion.  Well known within the school, and in the local area, Ruth is considering developing the investigation in the future, perhaps to use ducks. For Viv Rimmer as well, involvement in the project had been "a very satisfying experience".