Recently the annual “baby egg” project took place in psychology class. The point of this project was to experience what it’s like to have the responsibility of parenting an infant. The egg can represent the infant because it’s fragile and delicate and so is a developing infant.

Students talked about the project and said it was a cool experience and was fun to do. Psychology students took care of these eggs for over a period of three days long, got to name it, had to keep a diary type thing about the egg and log the process of taking care of it. If anything happened to the “baby” and it cracked, there was an alternative project to be completed.

The diary that students completed kept track of the egg during the three-day process. In the diary, students had to log the “birth” process, activities done throughout the day, encounters, any problems, and finally attachment process.

The steps to the project were as follows:

1.) Each student will randomly select a “baby” and they can decide whether they want it to be a female or male. You can also choose a name for it and you will receive a number for it so you know which one is yours. Each student will be provided with an appropriate carrier for the “baby egg” that will be attached to your wrist throughout the day.

2.) Students will pick up their babies during homeroom each day for the 3 days and return them a couple of minutes before 7th period ends. If you are absent anytime during the 3 days, you will have to make the day or days up.

3.) Students are required to keep a daily journal which will include the following information: how the student took care of the baby egg during various activities, what types of encounters you had with other people, what other students reactions were, what problems were encountered throughout the day taking care of the baby egg, what your feelings about the “baby” were. Describe each problem, encounter, etc in detail.

4.) For day 1, your journal entry, you have to describe how you prepared for the project and how you felt going through the “attachment process.”

5.) If a students egg breaks during the course of the 3-day project, the students required to read a chapter or an article from Piaget or Kohlberg, or a parenting article or book on how to care for an infant each day from the time broke until the 3rd day of the project. A one page typed summary of each chapter or article read must be handed in with your journal competed. You must include the article, name, book, website, etc. In the journal, the student must keep track of a record of what happened from the time the egg broke. The last journal entry should include how the student felt about the egg breaking.

6.) Your completed journal will be due 2 days after you completed the 3 days with your baby egg. If you do not participate in the project or fail to make up a day when you are absent you will receive a zero for a test grade.

7.) If your baby is a victim of an assassin, go and talk to the teacher. There will be consequences for that person.