Discovery Education Acquires Mystery Science

Discovery Education—the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms—today announced the acquisition of the popular K-5 science and STEM curriculum Mystery Science. Created in San Francisco, California, Mystery Science is used in more than 50% of United States’ elementary schools each month. Terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition of the Mystery Science curriculum supports Discovery Education’s ongoing effort to keep students and teachers connected to curiosity. Mystery Science will complement Discovery Education’s other successful digital services supporting science education, which include Discovery Education Experience, the Science Techbook series, and STEM Connect.

“The extraordinary team developing and delivering Mystery Science to students across the country share Discovery Education’s dedication to helping students understand and make sense of the natural world around them,” said Discovery Education President of K-12 Education, Scott Kinney.  “Like educators and students nationwide, we deeply admire Mystery Science, and we look forward to adding it to our existing suite of award-winning digital resources currently supporting instruction in classrooms everywhere.  Together, we are better positioned to deepen our impact by providing all learners endless opportunities to investigate real-world problems, uncover understanding, inspire innovation and pursue unlimited possibilities.”

Mystery Science features ready-to-teach multimedia science and STEM lessons for K-5 students. Each lesson begins by posing a question commonly asked by young students, which is followed by a series of brief videos and prompts used to guide class discussion. The lesson concludes with an activity incorporating basic supplies commonly found in a classroom or at home.

Mystery Science lessons cover a wide range of questions children wonder about, including Where do rivers flow? Could a volcano pop up where you live? Why do the stars come out at night? and How far can a whisper travel?

“Mystery Science was created to help educators turn the conventional approach of answering children’s questions on its head,” said Doug Peltz, Co-Founder of Mystery Science. “Keith Schacht and I wanted to unlock student curiosity by helping students explore the world around them through a unique inquiry method. Our core goal, also shared by Discovery Education, is to help as many educators as possible nurture students’ natural curiosity through the Mystery Science resources, and we look forward to expanding our impact together.”

“Mystery Science has always been dedicated to helping children stay curious,” said Keith Schacht, Mystery Science Co-Founder. “We’re incredibly excited by the opportunity to reach even more children in classrooms with Discovery Education.”

K&L Gates LLP served as counsel to Discovery Education in connection with the transaction, and Fenwick & West LLP served as counsel to Mystery Science.

Mystery Science is Discovery Education’s latest acquisition. In August of 2019, Discovery Education announced the purchase of Inspyro and in July of 2020, Discovery Education acquired Spiral.

For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.

American Consortium for Equity in Education

The American Consortium for Equity in Education, publisher of the "Equity & Access" journal, celebrates and connects the educators, associations, community partners and industry leaders who are working to solve problems and create a more equitable environment for historically underserved pre K-12 students throughout the United States.