LIS 568: Turtles Need Their Shells

This week, I wanted to share a website that encourages inquiry in students: Mystery Doug! Once you sign up, (for free!) you can join in the fun. Doug, who figured out how to create a niche for himself by making himself the best job ever (seriously, though, how does he make a living?), answers questions asked by kids each week. In videos that average about 5 minutes long, Doug answers a FaceTime call by a student asking the question, and then proceeds to answer it in full. At the end of the video, Doug chooses three new questions posed by students, and classes or individuals can vote for the question they would like Doug to answer the following week. The interactivity and the involvement of other kids connects students to the content, and the questions are fascinating: Can a turtle live outside of its shell? How were emojis created? What is the moon made of? Doug knows!

By “Jonathan Zander (Digon3)" 

The second grade teacher who told me about Mystery Doug has been using it in her classroom during snack time on Mondays, and she reports that her class is consistently enthralled-- and you KNOW how attentions may wander during snack time!

Doug’s method in answering the questions follows the formula of an essay, with the introduction, body, and conclusion, so for upper elementary kids, teachers may want to use his videos as a “how to” when teaching writing. The videos are accompanied by writing prompts broken into grade-level abilities (K-1, 2-5) and teachers may choose to use the videos in conjunction with a larger project. I could even imagine the website kicking off or substantiating a Wonder unit or exercise, in which the LMS and classroom teachers collaborate. If the students come up with questions to send Doug, who’s to say they won’t want to BE like Doug, and answer their questions (yay, research!), create videos using editing software, and then publish their efforts on the school/library/class website!

I can’t wait to find a place to use Mystery Doug to inspire inquiry and spark some really cool projects.