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Hello.  I am new to this forum.  I teach 5th-grade science.  I would like to know if anyone here has used Mystery Science?  If so, have you followed their progression to cover the standards or do you choose one lesson at a time to relate to what you are teaching?  How do you like/not like it?  What do you use with it?  Thank you for any advice or ideas.

Hi, 

I am a preservice teacher, but have seen Mystery Science used in a few of my practicums. The school that I was at used Mystery Science as their curriculum, but the teacher who I partnered with would tweak it as needed in order to cover standards and the way that she wanted her students to be engaged. I found that Mystery Science is a good thing to use if you don't have time to come up with your own lesson or if you want something fun for the students. SOME of the lessons are actually really good, and others, not so much. Also, in science, we want our students to pose questions and wonder about what's going on. In Mystery Science, it pretty much tells the students straight up what the problem is and how it should be solved. 

We don't have a curriculum.  What do you use that you like better?

Hello, 

Our school uses Mystery Science pretty consistantly. The lessons are quite intriguing for students and they do a good job of showing you how to do an experiment or project step by step. The lessons come with a student activity booklet which needs to be printed out. While I do like Mystery Science, it can also get expensive as our school only pays for the subscription not the supplies. Some teachers ask parents to donate materials but I can justify doing that. I usually pay things out of pocket. I do mix it up with other science activities though because even though I think they are good I think there is much more you can do on certain units. Not sure if this helps or not. 

My expereince with Mystery Science is that it feels very doable by teachers and therefore science is sometimes taught because of access to this curriculum. Students also enjoy the videos etc, especially Mytery Doug.  Having said that it also loses student interest because the same exact format is used over and over.

Mystery Science is NOT totally aligned to the new standards  There are definitely gaps in the learning students attain using just Mystry Science.

If you are looking for instructional materials, check out EdReports which is reviewing science mateials to determine whether it is meeting the standards.

Kathy