Name: Program: Course:

Carson Hope Early Childhood Special Education (K-3) ECH 460

Lesson Topic/Title:
Martin Luther King Jr. Egg Experiment
Lesson Date: Lesson Length: Grade:
January 16, 2020 30 minutes 1st Grade
Learning Objective(s) Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
1. Students will be able to recall Martin 1. This will be the final activity after a
Luther King, Jr.’s dream – for people to weeklong unit on MLK Jr. and his
be treated equally regardless of their dream.
color. 2. This activity will ask students to make
2. Students will make comparisons comparisons of the outside and inside
between the brown and white egg and of each of the eggs, and the teachers
relate findings to humans. will prompt a discussion on how this
relates to humans/race.
Content Standards Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
Maine Learning Results 1. Students will reflect on their learning
1. Social Studies on a celebration of an important
Civics and Government – Grade 1 figure of United States history that
Standard 1 helped shape civil rights laws.
“Students understand key ideas and 2. Students will respect differences by
processes that characterize learning about and discussing skin
democratic government in the color.
community and the United States
by recognizing symbols,
monuments, celebrations, and
leaders of State government.”
2. Career and Education Development
A. Interpersonal Skills – Pre-K – 2
Standard 3(b)
“Students identify social skills that
influence interpersonal
relationships in positive ways; […]
b. respecting differences.”

Assessment
This activity will be a summative
assessment of the weeklong unit on Martin
Luther King, Jr. Students will complete a
worksheet on which they will identify their
findings in the egg experiment as well as
how this relates to MLK’s dream.
Materials, Resources, and/or
Technology
• 1 brown egg
• 1 white egg
• Two paper plates
• Worksheets
• Coloring utensils
• Pencils
Teaching and Learning Sequence
Introduction
1. Students will be asked who they have
been learning about all week (Martin
Luther King, Jr.) and why he is a
famous historical figure.
2. The teacher will explain that today, the
class will be doing an experiment that
they can then relate back to Dr. King’s
beliefs about all people being equal.
Instruction and Experiment
3. The teacher will show the children the
two eggs and will ask what is different
about the outside of the eggs. Students
will be asked to complete the model of
the outside of the eggs on their
worksheet and complete the sentence.
4. The teacher will ask children to predict
whether the eggs will look the same
inside when they are cracked open or if
they will look different. Students who
Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
Students will reflect on what they’ve
learned about MLK Jr. in the weeklong
unit and identify equality as MLK’s
dream.
Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
• The eggs will be cracked open so
students can see that the insides are
the same.
• The eggs will be cracked on the
plates.
• The worksheet will include student
drawn models, and a question and
answer.
• Students will color in models of the
outsides and insides of the eggs.
• Students will write written responses
in pencil.
Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
1. Students will be asked to reflect on
the weeklong unit.
2. Students will be informed of the
activity and its purpose.
3. Students will be asked to make an
observation and document it.
4. Students will think about what
they’ve been learning about Dr. King
and equality. They will be asked to
make a prediction. Students will be
reminded to think about what they’ve
been learning and why they might be
doing this experiment during a social
studies unit.
5. Students will make a second
observation and document their
findings.
6. Students will relate the experiment
with the eggs back to the unit. This is
cross-curricular and relates to a
societal issue.
 say different will be asked to explain 7. Students will reflect on what equality
why. is and why we should treat everyone
5. The teacher will crack open both of the equally.
eggs and ask students if they are the 8. The teacher will make a connection to
same or different inside. Students will both the unit as well as the societal
be asked to complete the model and issue that Dr. King fought against,
sentence about the inside of the eggs. and how the concept is still present
6. The teacher will ask how this relates to today.
what they’ve learned about Dr. King.
The teacher will share (after students
respond) that even when people have a
different skin color, they are the same
inside, and therefore they should be
treated equally (like Dr. King fought
for). Students will complete the final
sentence on the worksheet.
Conclusion
7. Students will be asked again why
everyone should be treated equally.
8. The teacher will remind students that it
is very important to be kind to
everyone regardless of what they look
like and will explain that they should
act everyday like Dr. King would’ve
wanted them to.
Meeting Students’ Needs Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
• Ensure there are no students with an • There were none, but it is important
egg allergy prior to implementing this to check.
lesson. • Student 1 will need scaffolded support
• Student 1 will need direct support with in reading questions and writing
the writing portion of this lesson. answers.

Reflection
This activity was very engaging. The students were very excited to see what would
happen when the eggs were broken open. Some of the students expressed that they
didn’t know there was more than one color egg, as many families typically buy either
white or brown eggs. I like that this activity was very cross-curricular (science, social
studies, social-emotional) and was about an important concept that is still an issue
today. It was very exciting to see the connections students made to their own lives.
When the discussion about how the eggs related to human race, one of the students,
who is biracial, told the class that her father has black skin and that he says it’s
important to treat white and black people the same. Another biracial student explained

that he knows his skin looks different than some of his friends’ skin, but he doesn’t
think anything else is different about them. It was very exciting and enlightening to see
the students having an understanding about skin color but not with negative
connotations. One of the white students named the students with black or brown skin
in the classroom but said “they are my friends because I don’t care what they look like.”
This really shows that racism and hate are taught, and that children are not innately
discriminatory. Furthermore, unless taught, many children don’t care about these
differences. I think that because of this, it is an important job of us educators to foster
their open-mindedness by doing activities like this to prove their beliefs that they
should be treated the same.
Teaching Standards and Rationale
Standard 5 addresses innovative application of content. The standard states: “the
teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage
learners in critical/creative thinking and collaborative problem solving related to
authentic local and global issues” (CCTS). In other words, the standard emphasizes
cross-curricular lessons and meaningful lessons that relate to the students and their
communities. The standard also requires educators to engage learners in lessons that
foster development of problem solving skills. Indicator 5(d) states that the educator
“engages learners in questioning and challenging assumptions and approaches in order
to foster innovation and problem solving in local and global contexts” (CCTS). I believe
this activity really embodies standard 5. Standard 5 asks educators to plan and
implement lessons that are not only academic but are also connected to “real-life” issues
that students may face, be exposed to, or hear about. While the unit on Martin Luther
King Jr. was a history lesson, racism is racial inequality is not a historical issue. While
challenges have changed over time, it is inarguably still a societal issue. By discussing
equality and doing an activity that allowed the students to see a model of why so many
people fight for equality, students could visualize what Dr. King advocated. This activity
also sparked a great discussion where students related equality to their lives and
experiences. This discussion is what drove me to choose indicator 5(d), as students
challenged inequality, and stated that despite skin color all humans are the same inside
and deserve equality.