Superman and Batman Come to the Aid of Science

Batman’s butler, the loyal Alfred, has been kidnaped, and 11-year-old John Pascacio is determined to find out whodunit.

He rushes to the Bat Cave Crime Lab, where he’s surrounded by the latest crime-solving equipment. At the odor station, he tests the scent the culprit left behind. At the chromatographer, he determines which pen wrote the ransom note.

After he analyzes the chemicals and strands of hair found at the scene of the crime, scrutinizes footprints and fingerprints, and uses a sensitive computer to put together a sketch of the likely suspect, all the clues fall into place.

“It’s Catwoman,” he says with the authority of Bruce Wayne. “I’m sure of it.”

The intrepid Pascacio solved the crime with the help of the California Museum of Science and Industry’s new exhibit, “Super Heroes: A High-Tech Adventure.” This interactive display, which opened Friday and runs through Dec. 31, teaches mere mortals lessons about modern science by relating them to the special powers of super-heroes.

“I learned that I can do the same things as super-heroes,” said Pascacio of his experience in the crime lab. “I learned I could figure out which crook did it. I have super powers too.”

Pascacio and his classmates stepped from the gritty reality of fifth grade at Trinity Elementary School, a few blocks from the Exposition Park museum, onto the pages of a comic book at a Thursday preview of the exhibit. Life-size cutouts of Batman, Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk beckoned them to test their skills at different stations around the room.

“The strength of this exhibit is that the super-heroes help draw the kids into it,” said museum deputy director Dave Ucko. “A lot of people are afraid of science--they try to avoid it. This exhibit sucks them in because of the super-heroes.”

A cartoon bubble coming out of Wonder Woman’s mouth got Pascacio’s attention. He read it out loud: “I can deflect bullets with my bracelets. Can you ward off an attack of Ping-Pong balls with your wrists?”

“Sure I can,” he answered. He grabbed his friend Fernando Martinez, and the dynamic duo fended off yellow balls coming at them from a trajectory. “KAPOW, SMACK, BONK, FWOMP!” read the bubbles above them.

“We’re learning speed, we’re learning how fast you can react,” Martinez said.

To Marilynne Eichinger, president of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and creator of the “Super Heroes” exhibit, this type of interaction is the best thing about the display. “We don’t just want people pushing buttons and seeing things light up. We want them doing things,” she said. “We want them getting the feel of things, like the way they can get the feel of trajectory when the balls come at them. Then they can take that feeling and learn more about it. They can really think it through.”

Eichinger interspersed quizzes throughout the exhibit to keep visitors “thinking all the time.” Diane Perlov, director of exhibits at the museum, agrees that physical interaction is a perfect way to motivate children to use their minds. “When you get kids interacting physically and experiencing things,” she said, “they remember what they learn more. It has more impact on them.”

Maintain Interest

The Trinity teachers who accompanied the fifth-grade class reaffirmed the importance of hands-on learning. “They’ve got to see it and have fun with it so they don’t lose interest,” said Rene Weber as she watched her students revel in their new-found super-hero powers. “I don’t think they’re consciously aware that this is science. It sneaks up on them.”

“Some children can relate to science as science. Others need special motivation. The super-heroes give them that motivation,” said Karen Handy, her co-teacher. “These are the kids that grew up with TV cartoons--they love them.”

Indeed, her students had the highest of compliments for super-heroes. Jimmy Dominguez’s favorite is Spiderman, and he tried out his own Spiderman abilities by climbing on a yellow-and-black web made out of rope. He may not have realized it, but he was also learning about agility and certain insect traits.

Aileen Garcia likes Superman “because he can fly, and he looks muscular,” but is partial to Wonder Woman “because she’s a girl. I like her strength and her braveness; I like when she helps the good people and destroys the bad.”

A real-live Superman, cape and all, and a red-suited Spiderman flew in--or scaled the walls--especially for the exhibit’s opening.

Superman talked the kids through a part of the exhibit called Hospital. “With my X-ray vision, I can see through you guys. And with a special tool, you can look through someone’s throat and see what’s in there. It’s called an endoscope, and it helps doctors see what’s inside of people.”

Superman also used the occasion to moralize. “Anyone of you guys, using the technology developed today, can actually be a super-hero. It’s very simple: All it takes is a device called yourself. If you do the right thing along the way, if you develop your body and your mind, you can be a super person, which is better than being a super-hero.”

Garcia wasn’t interested in this didacticism. “Let’s see you fly,” she said to the Man of Steel.

Exhibit creator Eichinger said that she chose super-heroes when she was developing it because “they’re cross-generational. It’s nostalgia for adults. We grew up with the same super-heroes in comic book as the kids did.”

She approached Dow Chemical Co. and Hewlett-Packard, who became the main corporate sponsors of the $750,00 exhibit, which opened this summer at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland. Its Los Angeles stop marks the beginning of a three-year tour of science museums around the country.

But the people who really made this exhibit possible are not from any company or museum. Bob Kane and Stan Lee created Batman and Spiderman, respectively, and they were on hand to celebrate the exhibit’s debut.

Kane said he was glad to see Batman motivating children in the field of technology, and noted that they can easily empathize with Batman because he is just a mortal.

“He doesn’t have superpowers. All he has is the power of his brain and his wits. He is a true scientist, always the researcher--and he got there through study,” said the dapper cartoonist, who sports a Batman wristwatch. “The message here is to train the body and mind, like Batman did. I hope the kids will say, ‘If he can do it, I can do it.’ ”