Hatching chicks in the classroom can be an effective way to increase student engagement, investigate how organisms change and develop over time, and study embryology, life cycles, heredity and animal needs. Students identified the various components of an egg, understanding that everything a chick needs to develop, grow and eventually hatch is provided within its shell. Students learned how air is transferred through the pores in the egg shell to provide growing chicks with the oxygen necessary for their survival. Students also learned what the optimum temperature and conditions the eggs need to be incubated in to hatch and survive after hatching. They learned the need for a system to imitate the optimal conditions a hen would create for the developing chick can be done through the use of an incubator. They also understand that growth still occurs when the chick has hatched from its egg, so optimal conditions still need to be created and maintained.