Encouraging Children to Love Science

I have always loved animals and been intrigued by nature and living things in my environment. One of the units in science that I enjoyed teaching and was completely enveloped in was the unit on life cycles. I love being an observer of living things and finding out how they grow and develop. I wanted to show how ducks begin their life cycles and allow my students an opportunity to be observers of nature and hopefully they too would develop a love for animals.

I ordered the duck eggs from a company and had them delivered to my house. I tried to choose different kinds of ducks so that students could see them grow and develop at different rates and they would be able to compare/contrast the variety of ducks.

I placed the eggs in an incubator that rotates the eggs every 12 hours. It takes between 30 to 35 days for duck eggs to hatch. So I placed the eggs in the incubator and waited. As it gets closer to 30 days, your anticipation multiplies. I was so excited about the experience of watching duck eggs hatch and seeing this duck begin its life.

Slowly, the ducks began to use their egg tooth to start cracking their egg shells. It's an interesting but time slowing experience because it takes hours for most of them to break through their shells. Throughout this process little peeps and chirps can be heard in the incubator.

My students and I observed for hours and finally 9 ducks hatched out of their shells. They would have to remain in the incubator until their down completely dried. When they were ready to move out of the incubator into their new home, I placed them in a huge container with bedding, water, grain mixed in water, and a heat lamp.

It is such a heart warming experience to observe these ducklings on a daily basis. To feed and care for them, melts your heart. Listening to their different chirps and seeing their growth and development each day is a blessing.

As the ducks got bigger, I would take them out more and let them experience swimming in a small toddler's pool. They would swim above and below the surface of the water at different speeds and you could hear all the different sounds they would make as you watched their happiness swimming in the water. I could feel my heart smile as the ducks enjoyed their pool time.

My students and I would observe, discuss, and write about the changes in the ducks' appearance over time. It was an experience that I know I will never forget and I hope they will never forget.

As the ducks grew bigger, it was time to make a difficult decision but one that was best for them. They had to go to a new environment to live out their years. It was time for them to go live at a pond where someone would feed and take care of them on a daily basis.

I found a local farmer that raises cattle and has a pond for the ducks. I took the ducks to the pond with tears in my eyes. There are times that it's difficult to make the right decisions but I wanted what was best for our ducklings.

I recently had the opportunity to visit this pond where several of our ducks have gone to live since I have been teaching this unit on life cycles of animals. As I approached this pond, the ducks saw me and began to waddle closer to me. I was astonished and amazed at how big they were and the color of their feathers. There are Mallard, Pekin, Khaki Campbell, and Cayuga ducks all living and flourishing together.

I was able to touch the ducks and feed them. I watched as they moved quickly from the water to where I was standing to eat their food. These ducklings that I had once used in my classroom to teach about life cycles were living as pets on this farm. Nothing could have brought me more pleasure than to see how they were doing and how happy they were in their new environment.

As I drove away, my eyes were filled with tears. They were not tears of sadness, but tears of pure joy at how this learning experience had turned into something so special. My students and I had been a witness in their beginning growth and development, and now I was a witness in their permanent home where they were happy just being ducks.