Success StoryThirty-three continuous years of the chick incubation and embryology project in a school.



Thirty-three continuous years of the chick incubation and embryology project in a school.

Author: Anthony Pescatore

Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences

Major Program: Agriculture & Natural Resources

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

The chick incubation and embryology project brings the life cycle of the chicken into the classroom. There is wide spread participation in the program across the commonwealth. There are many ways to implement the program in the classroom. Since the incubation period of the chick is 21 days, most programs involve a three week commitment. A need to develop a shorter program was identified and a one-week program developed. The incubator is placed in the classroom on a Monday with 18-day embryos. The chicks hatch mid-week, and the incubator and chicks are removed on Friday. This program was implemented and tested in a parochial school (Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary School in Lexington). The one week chick incubation program has been conducted for 33 consequence years at the school and has reach over 4,000 students. At the fifty year anniversary of the school, the alumni were surveyed and the chick incubation experience was among the top three favorite memories of the school. Many of the teachers that utilize the program now experienced the hatching of the chicks as students.






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