Kim Ricchiuti and Shannon Saturno’s third-grade students at Babylon Memorial Grade School learned themes of tolerance, racial diversity and acceptance in honor of Martin Luther King Day by running a scientific experiment involving brown and white eggs.
The students "broke a few color barriers" by cracking the eggs into a bowl and whisking them together to reveal that they are the same on the inside, just like people. Leading up to the project, the children were asked to write about what they thought would be inside each color egg.
"During the lesson, we tried to emphasize that although we may look different on the outside, we are all the same inside," Ricchiuti said. "Therefore, we should all be treated equally."
The students ultimately observed that the eggs came in all different shades and colors on the outside, but that they were all the same on the inside. To begin the lesson, Mrs. Saturno read to the students Mem Fox's “Whoever You Are,” a book that discusses how children all over the world share a common ground despite racial and gender differences.
