At Needham Science Center, Discoveries are Elementary

August 20, 2026
• Gearing up for back-to-school, the center organized science kits for elementary students that will support their science education this year.

Outside Newman Elementary School Wednesday night, the air was muggy and filled with anticipation. Children deboarded a yellow school bus — perhaps after camp — while others played outside, their laughter a quiet hum under a setting sun.

In these final vestiges of a fleeting summer vacation, some ventured into the Needham Science Center, a wing of the school, where a handful of volunteers eyed the start of the school year. They shuffled worksheets in neat stacks and shoveled gravel into plastic bags for young explorers.

This September, those materials will go to third grade teachers, who will help their students investigate habitats and how animals adapt in different environments.

The science center provides Needham elementary teachers three to four kits each school year, filled with activities aimed to enhance students’ science curriculum. The system, and the center itself, is unique to Needham, as many districts lack the funding or the time to devote to the sciences, Needham Science Center Director Elise Morgan said.

It’s all about “getting science into the hands of the teachers and the kids,” she said.

“I think that the way that we’ve designed the units really have an impact on kids in a way that they engage,” Morgan said. “They’re excited, and that’s the way that they learn the content.”

Storage bins lined the hall of the science center, destined for Kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms across Needham Public Schools. Two retired Needham Kindergarten teachers, Martha Miceli and Jo-Anne Bagley, counted off pages on fossils and tucked them into envelopes.

Both women, though no longer employed in the district, said they felt called to give back after benefiting from the center themselves. They recalled the scientific materials they received for their own students, such as aquariums, magnifying glasses, water tables and more, all to “help support the exploring of science in Kindergarten,” Bagley said.

“Children just love science. They love it, and they get into it,” Bagley said. She taught at Eliot Elementary School. “They do so much work, and the value for the teachers is remarkable… and it brought the kids joy and me joy as a teacher.”

Having grown up in Needham, Miceli has her own memories of the science center when she was a student.

“There’s one I remember so vividly: They brought the barn owl,” said Miceli, who taught at Sunita Williams Elementary School. “That was a long time ago, but I have such a vivid memory of what they’ve done.”

The center was established in 1964 with a mission to make science a hands-on subject for local students. That looks like field trips to local nature areas, programming, live animals and the science kits. There is also a wide collection of taxidermied animals that still hang around the department, a remnant of the center’s early days.

Morgan said staff began revising the science kits around 2014, when she first joined as director. Now that the district implemented a new literacy program, they’re looking to reexamine the kits in an effort to integrate them with literacy topics by grade level. Morgan estimated that may take about three to five years.

The science kits are a collaboration with teachers, and they start with standards and practices and ensuring they meet kids’ needs and that the units are accessible, Morgan said. The revisions also look at ways to meet the district’s goal of being culturally responsive, she added, which could look like connecting topics and lessons to students’ own identities.

The center now hopes to solicit additional community involvement by hosting regular volunteer nights on the first Wednesday of every month, through the school year, where people can help pack up future kits for students.

About seven volunteers arrived within the first hour on Wednesday, ready to lend a hand and, in one instance, get their hands a little dirty.

Prerna Saluja and her two kids, a rising third grader and fifth grader, measured cups of gravel outside in the grass, kicking up some occasional dust. Third graders will use the gravel to build the “little creature” habitats — Morgan said she wants the specific animal to be a surprise.

Saluja, who runs the annual STEM festival at Eliot, said she sees the center as a resource.

“I really love how they think about and teach science. It’s all about being curious,” Saluja said. “Science education isn’t about ‘this is all I know.’ It’s about building curiosity and building a framework to get the answers you want.”

Judging by the district’s MCAS scores, Needham elementary students are excelling in science. On the 2025 assessment, taken by fifth graders, 75% met or exceeded expectations, which is 10% higher than their pre-pandemic scores. It’s also nearly 30 points higher than the state average.

Morgan referenced the high marks Wednesday, as she supervised the volunteers. Soon, the center will be buzzing, literally and figuratively. The live animals — including Popeye the hedgehog, Eloise the box turtle, Cloudy the chinchilla and Rose and Blanche the guinea pigs — will come back from their own summer vacations in time for school. The live animal room of the center is mostly occupied by African clawed frogs and hissing cockroaches at the moment, and Morgan said she’s looking to add a snake and bearded dragon to the group.

The school year begins Sept. 2 — Sept. 3 for Kindergarten and preschool — which is when Morgan can expect the center to truly “come alive,” as its founder intended.

“We’re very fortunate in Needham,” she said.

Interested volunteers can sign up here, or email Elise Morgan at elise_morgan@needham.k12.ma.us.