We understand that, like Diego here, you want to get teaching, without spending a ton of time gathering supplies.
Dear Mystery Science,
Preparing for experiments has always been my least favorite part about teaching science. I hate having to collect all sorts of materials, and it’s not easy figuring out how much of everything I need! I’ve wasted money in the past buying complicated supplies that barely did what they were supposed to do. Part of me wants to swear off activities completely, but my students absolutely love them. Now that I’m using Mystery Science, I’m trying to plan ahead and only purchase what’s absolutely necessary. What do you recommend?
Thanks,
Diego
We’ve designed our lessons with teachers like you in mind. Supplies vary by lesson, but all of our hands-on activities are easy to prep, using mostly materials you have on hand in the classroom or at home!
Every individual lesson in our science units has an itemized list, as well as a way to calculate supplies by the total number of students. You can find this list under the "Activity Prep" section of each lesson.
Some schools purchase Mystery Packs to make supplies even easier! If you’ll be gathering the supplies yourself, try clicking on “Details” to see helpful tips about what types of supplies are recommended.
Many lessons include a worksheet that allows students to document their learning progress as part of an activity. These worksheets can be printed out as part of the supplies required for any given activity.
As opposed to our full lessons, most mini-lessons do not require any supplies whatsoever, except a curious mind! Some do feature optional activities, which you can access by clicking the purple box under the video that says “View Hands-On Activity.” Like the full lessons, the activity page for mini-lessons will help you through the prep, step by step!
We hope your students love trying out our activities, and that you love the shorter prep time – let us know how it goes!
Curious to learn more? Here are some other resources you may find helpful: