Fall ChickQuest workshop held

32 teachers met at the 4H building on the Ohio State University campus for this fall’s ChickQuest workshop. Presenter Jeanne Gogolski took the participants through the ChickQuest curriculum, demonstrating the many hands-on STEM activities involved. One engineering activity involves the construction of an egg catcher, which is then field-tested on the spot. Teachers left with a supply kit that included an incubator to hatch live chicks in the classroom.

Cassie Schaaf is a kindergarten and grades 1, 2 and 4 Autism teacher at Wapakoneta Elementary. This is her first experience with ChickQuest. Schaaf is “looking forward to students understanding the entire life cycle process using something that’s so hands-on.”

Other teachers, having used the curriculum before, are back again. Victoria Miller teaches kindergarten at Asbury Elementary in the Groveport school district. This is her second year at the workshop. She said, “The students really loved it. Some got very sad about the chicks that didn’t hatch. The experiments really helped students understand the difference between fertilized eggs and those in the grocery store.”

Lauren Ritzenthaler, also at Asbury, is “excited about the other experiments that accompany the hatching. All of these experiments that lead up to hatching and help my kindergarten students understand the eggs better will add so much relevance to the overall experience.”

Brenna Riddle at Winchester Trails Elementary has done Chickquest in her third grade classroom before. She scheduled it after testing, and “found that even my students with the strongest behavioral issues really straightened up and paid attention for that entire 21 days.”

Want to use ChickQuest in your classroom? Watch our website for upcoming workshops. Bring a teacher friend and make it a great, “egg-citing” day!