Children learn more words in their first year of a science class than [they] learn in the first year of a language class. And that's why they hate science.
鈥� Sylvia Branzei
At Grossology, a new exhibit at the 黑料吃瓜网 Science Center, one of the first things you see is a nine- or ten-foot-tall model of a human nose with six- or seven-foot-tall nostrils. As you enter, you're surrounded by things like the and the , and you learn things like how the regulate the pressure around your ear drums and so then a stuffy nose makes your ears feel clogged.
As you stand there in this giant schnozz鈥攍earning more about how your tear ducts drain excess tears through your nose and so then your nose runs when you cry鈥攖he you鈥檙e standing on gets irritated, and the nose eventually sneezes you out with a blast of air from all directions.
Those large-enough-to-walk-through nostrils are one of the tamer stations in the exhibit. There鈥檚 a climbing wall made of zits, blisters, and scabs. There鈥檚 an entire display devoted to different ways the human body stinks. There鈥檚 a pinball game called Gas Attack! and a video game about urine. There鈥檚 a station about vomiting.
Grossology is all about all the grossest parts of our bodies and all the grossest things our bodies do. But, according to , author of the series of books that the exhibit is based on, Grossology 鈥渋sn鈥檛 about being gross. It鈥檚 [about] using Grossology as a hook to teach science and health science.鈥�
鈥淎ctually,鈥� she says, 鈥淚 had an epiphany one day when I was clipping my toenails. I started thinking, 鈥楨ww, what鈥檚 that gunk underneath my toenails?鈥� And then I thought, 鈥極h, I can figure that out.鈥� I was a microbiology major. 鈥楤ang! Gross stuff! Kids like gross stuff! I want to teach some science. I鈥檒l just invent a new science, and I鈥檒l call it 鈥榞rossology.鈥� 鈥� 鈥�
And according to Hank Gruner, vice president of programs at the Science Center, their view is 鈥淭his is an opportunity to expose your children to something in a fun way, and a creative, playful way that can invite some interesting conversations. Because everybody鈥檚 familiar with this and all of the words around it鈥攖he farting and everything, the terms that people use and snicker about. There鈥檚 science behind all that, and that鈥檚 a hook to engage folks.鈥�
One of the first things you鈥檒l notice about the Grossology exhibit is the language it uses. As much as I鈥檝e already used words like 鈥榦lfactory epithelium鈥� and 鈥楨ustachian tubes鈥� here, Grossology mostly uses pointedly plainer language.
According to Branzei, who was a science teacher before she started writing science books, 鈥淐hildren learn more words in their first year of a science class than you learn in the first year of a language class. And in science what happens is, they learn all these words, and then we make them apply [them] right away.?鈥�
If you read some seventh- and eighth-grade science curricula (PDF links), you鈥檒l find lots of words like 鈥榚sophagus鈥� and 鈥榩ancreas鈥� and 鈥榯rachea鈥� and 鈥榖ronchi.鈥� And, at least on paper, instead of talking about poop and farts and snot and sneezes, middle school classes discuss 鈥渂reaking down food鈥� and 鈥渆liminating waste鈥� and the 鈥渆xchange of gases between the body and its surroundings.鈥�
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why [kids] hate science,鈥� Branzei says. 鈥淏ecause it makes it hard, it makes it difficult. What I chose to do in my teaching, and later in my writing, was use normal, everyday terms that we use, teach all of the concepts so they can understand the concepts, and then put in the scientific words as well so that they become familiar with them, but they don鈥檛 become bogged down in the vocabulary and then lose the science because of it.鈥�
Grossology鈥檚 Burps and Belches display does teach about and the lower esophageal sphincter, but it's also got a burp machine where kids can mix soda and air and stomach acids to concoct a good, sizable belch.
Gruner says one way to better understand how our bodies work鈥攅ven the noisy, stinky, crusty, slimy parts of our bodies鈥攊s just to talk about them. 鈥淚f you go through and watch families, it鈥檚 very interesting. You will see them having the conversations. You will see them going through and talking about things. Yeah, you鈥檒l see the snickering and things like that, but you鈥檒l see meaningful conversations.鈥�
鈥淏ecause after all,鈥� he says, 鈥渋t is us.鈥�
Grossology runs in Hartford through March 8.
contributed to this story.
