Second-grade students Alexis Freese, left, and Elsa Chasteen, build a ruler bridge in one of their Mystery Science lessons. Submitted photo

Dresden elementary students are excited about finding science principles in everyday life because of a curriculum called Mystery Science.

Used throughout Regional School Unit 2 elementary schools, Mystery Science lessons begin with questions about the natural world, incorporate hands-on experiments and activities relying on creative use of common household items (paper plates, clothespins and string) to illustrate scientific principles, and end with opportunities to discuss and share what students have learned, according to a news release from the school.

Meteorology, engineering, botany and geology are some of the many scientific fields of study explored in K-5 Mystery Science lessons. As students investigate the questions that drive a particular lesson, they are often invited to experience environments different from their own through the included videos, such as the particularities of desert climates and the kinds of rocks found on the surface on the moon. Those exposures then spark curiosity about students’ own environment in midcoast Maine.

DES teacher Erica Atkinson likes how Mystery Science curriculum invites students to discuss their own ideas about a topic before exploring the lesson content. DES teacher Meghan Skelton enjoyed watching her students test what they learned about the way wind works by observing the movement of the Breeze Buddies they created to hang on trees outside the school.

Both teachers shared that their students come to school excited about science class and ready to engage their wonder for the natural world, and that adds to their own joy as educators.

Delilah Hornung, a kindergarten student at Dresden Elementary School, learns about the way wind works by observing the movement of the Breeze Buddies the students created to hang on trees outside the school. Submitted photo