Driven to Teach

Who needs test tubes and Bunsen burners? Most of the lessons of grade school physics can be learned in the family car. Or at least that’s what they are asserting nowadays at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The May Family Discovery Center, which opened Monday on the museum’s third floor, is a 6,500-square-foot “classroom in the hood” that’s designed to teach not only how a car works but why.

Patterned after a similar discovery center at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, the Petersen’s model is filled with learning stations about gravity, friction, force, motion and more, geared for children ages 6 to 16.

The center consists of three areas: the east and west wings and the VroomRoom. The east wing houses interactive exhibits, while the west wing is a sit-down activity area meant for toddlers.

A trip to the VroomRoom, situated near the center’s entrance near the elevator, isn’t much different from a Friday evening commute on the San Diego Freeway, except that you learn something from it, of course.

Visitors can trigger infra-red detectors that activate various car noises (horns and brakes) as well as fire engine and police motorcycle sirens in a simulated traffic jam.

Is there method to this madness? Yes, it’s a demonstration of the scientific principle of the Doppler effect, which causes a siren to sound louder coming toward you than going away.

Children can also climb on a real California Highway Patrol officer’s motorcycle and see how a radar gun detects speeders. (Hint, it has to do with sound.)

The exhibits in the east wing are a bevy of buttons to push, levers to pull and wheels to spin.

“Have You Hugged Your Road Today?” is a display of four kinds of tires and their treads that attempts to demonstrate how tire footprints vary for different road conditions, as well as to explain friction.

“Seize the Momentum,” a demonstration of the gyroscopic effect, lets visitors sit and spin on a rotating chair, moved only by holding a spinning bike wheel.

“Battle of the Bubbles / Go With the Flow” consists of four tubes filled with colored fluids. Visitors can pump air into the tubes and learn how friction in a liquid, or viscosity, varies in oil, water, transmission fluid and antifreeze.

The interactive part of the exhibits makes for lots of fun. But it didn’t seem as if the third-graders from the Carthay Center School, on a recent test drive of the May Family Center, were taking much in the way of science lessons away with them.

All of the displays have explanatory plaques, but often the language can be confusing, even for some adults. When every other word is “viscosity,” “friction,” “alternator” or “crankshaft,” the kids seem to lose interest in reading the plaques at record speed.

A giant combustion engine is one of the more popular activities, as well as one that’s easier to understand. Children can sit on a giant combustion engine with wheels and use their feet to push pistons in a four-stroke cycle. They act as “human sparkplugs,” turning the crankshaft and moving the car across the floor.

“The faster you move your feet, the more energy it gets to move,” said Alexia Castillo, 10.

The east wing is infinitely more accessible. A Sparklett’s delivery truck is stocked with water bottles filled with puzzles, games and toys that teach map skills, tell how to use a compass and list materials that make up a car, among other things.

The “Open Road” display is actually a 1910 Model T that kids can sit in. Seeing the car’s features and dressing up in the historical motoring attire provided--duster coats, goggles and scarves--children learn about what driving was like before windshields and electric lights.

“What did they do when it rained?” Vania Salguero, 9, asked.

There’s also a computerized driving simulator that will appeal especially to teens. Drivers climb into a real car, choose from three skill levels and, with help from instructor “Driver Ed,” drive through a virtual city. On-screen prompts warn of improper driving, seat belts have to be worn and an accident means “game over.”

In a savvy stroke of cross-promotion, visitors can purchase the same computer software program, Driver’s Education ‘98, in the museum gift shop for around $75. The commercial aspect of the display is a reminder that besides being an educational center, the May Family Discovery Center was built as an attraction.

“We are growing the car enthusiasts of the future,” Ken Gross, museum director, said of the project, which was funded by a $1-million grant from the May Family Trust. “We want to increase [museum] traffic, and if we bring kids in and they learn something or become interested in cars, we have our attendees of the future.”

Enthusiasm and fun can almost be guaranteed at the discovery center. “I love this place,” Salguero said at least twice. Only her teacher will know whether she also learned something about science.

BE THERE

May Family Discovery Center, Petersen Automotive Museum, 6060 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 930-CARS. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Entrance to the center is included in museum admission: $7 adults, $5 seniors and students with ID and $3 for children ages 5 to 12. Center is aimed at children ages 6 to 16.