Science Begins With Wonder and Sometimes With a Salamander. From Rainbows to Axolotls, a Southwest Harbor Kindergarten Class Discovers the Joy of Science at MDI Bio Lab.
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Science Begins With Wonder and Sometimes With a Salamander.

From Rainbows to Axolotls, a Southwest Harbor Kindergarten Class Discovers the Joy of Science at MDI Bio Lab.

Carrie Jones

just now

A young boy in a blue hoodie is crafting at a table, looking focused as he places decorations on a colorful paper. A young girl beside him also engages in arts and crafts, while two adults supervise attentively.

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Don & Beth Straus Center at Birch Bay Village.

An older man and a younger man playing checkers together at a table, with a banner displaying information about the Don & Beth Straus Center and its support for older adults.

BAR HARBOR—The children had come to see the axolotls, those odd little salamanders with pink frills around their heads and the remarkable ability to grow back what they lose. But also there were stickers. There were crafts. There was the kind of excitement that makes a roomful of kindergarteners forget, for a little while, that sitting still is ever a requirement.

And then there were the animals themselves, alive in their clear cases at the MDI Biological Laboratory, where 12 children from Pemetic Elementary School got to meet the creatures they had been learning about in class.

“Do you love them?” their teacher, Carol Null, asked.

The answer came back in a chorus.

“I do!”

“I do!”

“I do too,” Null said, smiling. “I love them even more now.”

That was the thing about a day at the lab. Science was no longer a picture in a book, or a word on a classroom wall. It had a face, a tail, and a set of extraordinary powers. And for a child, sometimes that is where wonder begins.

An axolotl in a clear tank with a red label indicating its details, including species, animal number, mating information, date of birth, and genotype.
A young girl with blonde hair wearing glasses and a pink polka dot shirt is focused on drawing or coloring on a table.
An axolotl in a transparent container filled with water, with a red label attached to the side.

Sometimes learning about science is about stickers. Sometimes it’s about bright pink feathers and getting super excited about that glow in the dark. Sometimes learning about science is joy—pure and simple joy.

That’s how it was October 28 at the MDI Bio Lab as Miss Hannah (known in the lab as Dr. Hannah Lust, director of STEM, undergraduate and graduate Training), other scientists, graduate students, and MDI Bio Lab staff, hosted 12 students from Carol Null’s Pemetic Elementary School’s kindergarten class.

The 2.5-hour program created by Dr. Lust focused on axolotls, a species of mole salamanders, a superhero in the animal world: a superhero with some scientific-study worthy superpowers.

One of those superpowers come from the axolotls’ ability to regenerate body parts, including entire limbs.

But also, they’re cute.

A woman in a blue sweatshirt holds a stack of printed papers while discussing with a young boy in a blue shirt, who is attentively looking at the materials. In the background, several people are seated in a waiting area with windows showing a scenic view.
A group of people engaging in conversation indoors, with a woman in a white sweater appearing animated and expressive beside a man with a beard. A painting of sailboats is visible in the background.
A man and a woman are interacting with a child at a table with clear containers filled with water. The man is leaning over the table, while the woman stands nearby, holding an object. The setting appears to be indoors, with a black tablecloth and a large screen in the background.
A young boy with short brown hair looking upwards, wearing a blue shirt and a name tag with stickers, in a bright indoor setting.
A person holding stacks of blank pages and printed materials, discussing a project titled 'My Axolotl Word Wall' in a classroom setting. In the background, participants are seated and engaged in the session.

This fall, before coming to the internationally renowned lab nestled in Salsbury Cove, Null has been integrating axolotls into her class. They’ve been part of the kids’ vocabulary and their storytelling. They’ve been part of science. They’ve been part of the children’s learning about facts vs opinions.

The Pemetic Elementary kindergarten students learn about invasive species and the impact on the ecology and one student related it to their dad, who lobsters, and his worries about green craps, an invasive species in Maine.

“Are they bigger or smaller than you thought they’d be?” the children are asked after the scientists show them multiple see-through cases of axolotls, lined up on a table that they’re told not to jiggle.

“Bigger!”

“I think they’re bigger.”

“Smaller!”

The bio lab opening its doors to the collaborations and to students and families is a norm, but this is the first program of this kind. It’s meant to encourage kindergarten students about axolotls.

But when the students come to the bio lab something else happens too—something beyond Null’s child-focused teaching—the students see science—and the regenerating creatures in real life. They do crafts. They speak with them. They meet people who know all about them: scientists and educators who talk to the kids like they’re equals.

That’s a superhero power, too.

A woman with glasses is speaking to a group, engaging with young children in a classroom setting. Two children, a girl with curly hair in a red sweater and a boy in a green shirt, are listening attentively. The background includes adults seated and various classroom materials on a table.
Colorful paper plate crafts featuring smiling faces with feathers and hands, arranged on a table.
Two men standing in an office setting, one wearing a light hoodie and the other holding a coffee mug.
A young girl with long brown hair and a contemplative expression, wearing a turquoise top.
Group of children listening attentively to two adults in a brightly lit room, with a water cooler and tables in the background.

Null speaks about meeting the kids where they’re at in her classroom, letting their interest and hearts lead her in their learning. That requires recognition of interests, of individuality, of empathy. Some would argue that’s a super power, too, but it’s also in those 12 students as they listen to the storybook, encounter those live axolotls, and hear about how axolotls might help advance society’s understanding of human health.

As Eddie Seckeler (comparative animal models, CORE facility manager), carefully puts the axolotls on a cart and rolls them away, some of the children stop what they’re doing to watch.

“Bye axolotls.”

“Bye!”

“Bye!”

The axolotls are not just images in a book, Hello, I’m an axolotl by Hayley and John Rocco; they are real and cool.

MDI Biological Laboratory scientists Dr. Prayag Murawala and Dr. James Godwin who both feature in the Roccos’ book. The kindergarteners get to meet them in real life, off the page, in the world, doing science. They learn from them, laugh with them.

“The visit is about more than meeting an unusual animal. By introducing children to scientists working in their own community, the experience helps make science tangible and accessible. Students can see that science is not just something they read about in books or learn about at school. It is something real people do every day by asking questions, making observations and working to understand how the world works,” explains MDI Biological Laboratory Director of Communications Rebecca Woods.

A group of children engaging in a craft activity, focusing on bright pink feathers and using glue. One girl with glasses is prominently arranging the feathers, while other children observe and participate.
Three women are engaged in a conversation around a table covered with art supplies. One woman is wearing a gray sweater, the second is in a black shirt with a name tag, and the third has glasses and a gray jacket. They appear to be discussing a creative project.
A group of four children sitting at a table, engaged in an activity, with a mix of expressions. In the background, an adult is visible.

While the students make axolotl-related crafts around tables, graduate students and staff help out.

Ryan holds up his construction paper setting and axolotl to show Omar Maged, a graduate student.

“Do you like it?” Ryan asks, eyes wide, turning from his axolotl to look up at Omar.

Omar studies the construction paper for a moment, smiles and says definitively, each word important. “It is beautiful.”

Two young girls looking curiously, one with curly brown hair in a red shirt and the other with straight blonde hair wearing glasses and a pink shirt.
A group of three people in a classroom setting, with one person gesturing as they speak while the others listen attentively. A brown blanket lies on a table in front of them.
A woman is guiding two children in a craft activity, focusing on colorful feathers and materials in baskets on a table.

Null says that she’s so thankful for all the “amazing” community partners that her school and her students get to interact with as they learn and grow and live, but emphasized how the MDI Bio Lab goes out of its way to create something meaningful, something that allows her young students to build their own agency, to know that they can be impactful in their community, to show them how how things they learn about in text is connected to themselves and their community.

Woods explains, “Axolotls have an extraordinary ability to regenerate, or regrow, certain body parts, including limbs. Scientists study these animals to understand how regeneration works and what their biology might teach us about tissue repair and healing in humans.”

The children enter the space for “a memorable introduction to a big scientific question,” Woods said. “How can some animals regrow body parts? The encounter encourages children to look closely, wonder about what they see and begin to understand how scientists use observations and experiments to investigate questions.”

A young girl with pigtails is focused on her hands while working on a craft project, wearing a colorful t-shirt featuring an exotic frog design and a name tag.
A child showing artwork featuring colorful underwater themes to an adult, with a group of children engaged in art activities in a bright classroom setting.
A smiling child with brown hair sits at a table covered in brown paper, surrounded by art supplies and other children. Adults are standing in the background, observing the activity.

“For the students, the visit is an opportunity to explore a fascinating animal and meet scientists in their own community,” Woods explains. “For MDI Biological Laboratory, it is a chance to share the excitement of research, nurture curiosity, and help young learners discover that science begins with asking questions.“

At the beginning of the school year, Pemetic kindergarteners didn’t know what the axolotl was—at least not exactly—now they know all about the axolotl’s life cycle.

“It’s different than a butterfly,” one student told Mrs. Null.

It is.

The change and knowledge might seem small, but it offers a glimpse of what happens when a subject moves beyond the pages of a book and into a child’s world. The children have been learning about butterflies at the Charlotte Rhoades Park and Butterfly Garden.

At both the garden and the MDI Bio Lab, the children see the animals, meet the scientists who study them and at the lab encounter a question that researchers are still working to answer: how can some creatures regenerate body parts, and what might that teach us about healing in humans?

They leave with gift bags, paper-plate salamanders, new things to wonder about and a connection between the science they learn in school and the work happening in their own community. The axolotls may be remarkable for their ability to grow back what they have lost. For these young students, the day offers something different: a chance to discover how much there is to ask, observe, and imagine.

When Null’s students had time to use chalk and draw whatever they want, in the beginning of the year, they drew rainbows.

Now?

They’re using that chalk and choosing to draw axolotls instead.

A group of children and adults observing an activity, with a girl in front holding a drink and wearing glasses, while others look on with expressions of curiosity.
Colorful paper bags decorated with cartoon sea creatures such as axolotls and mermaids, placed on top of an open book titled 'Millions of Zooplankton' by Kimberlee Henson and John Henson.
A group of children and adults observing a science experiment involving a transparent container of water. The scene is in black and white, capturing their focused expressions, with one child wearing glasses.

About MDI Bio Laboratory

For more than 125 years, MDI Bio Lab has been a center for training and research in comparative biology. In the last two decades its biomedical research has focused on aging, regeneration, and environmental toxins.

The Laboratory houses 11 research groups staffed by an international team of world-class scientists and graduate students. It also leads a statewide network of colleges, universities and research institutions that collaborate to provide training, research experiences and financial support to help young Mainers play a bigger role in today’s biomedical revolution.

Located on Maine’s rugged coast, the Laboratory’s 100+ acre campus houses research facilities, cottages and dorms that house visiting scientists and students. It is also home to MDI Bioscience, a subsidiary working to design innovative techniques to speed the drug discovery process.

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Rick Osann Art.

Watercolor painting of a serene lake surrounded by mountains and pine trees, with a cloudy sky.

LINKS TO LEARN MORE

NIH INBRE

MDI BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY

Pemetic Elementary School

Hello, I’m an Axolotl

Photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story

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