Kingdom Of Learning

By Daniel S. Levy Columbus

The young girl laughs and waves to the milling crowd as she pumps the pedals of a unicycle with an oversize counterweight fixed beneath. As she tools back and forth along a thin cable strung 19 ft. above the ground, her friends wait for a chance to take a spin. Meanwhile they get an impromptu physics lesson from a guide on how the counterweight and gravity keep the unstable vehicle in equilibrium and prevent their friend from tumbling over.

It's this heady mix of circus and educational extravaganza that draws visitors to a spectacular new science center that opened last week in Columbus, Ohio. Called COSI (Center of Science and Industry), the $125 million facility is a jewel of innovation--a place that its president, former space-shuttle astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, says "persuades people that the words science, learning and fun actually do belong in the same sentence." The anchor for a $2 billion downtown economic-redevelopment program, the complex occupies a 17-acre site along the Scioto River in a once blighted neighborhood that is already brimming with new residential and retail buildings, renovated office structures and a National Hockey League arena.

Designed by acclaimed Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, COSI is housed in a stark shell-like exterior that sits like a giant canoe across from downtown Columbus. Inside its purposely skewed interior walls (variously aligned to three different versions of north: true, magnetic and the local street grid's) are seven thematic areas called Learning Worlds. Within each, visitors are free to immerse themselves in scientific concepts that range from basic physics to advanced medicine. "One of the problems with all science centers is the 'Ping-Pong-ball effect,'" says Joseph Wisne, COSI's vice president for design and production. "Visitors literally bounce from one interactive device to the next, pushing buttons to see what things do, as opposed to using them to engage their own sense of creativity, adventure and learning."

Combining interactivity with what Wisne calls "the emotional and contextual power of a theme park," COSI aims to leave visitors with a greater understanding of the concepts underpinning the science they have been entertained by. In the Gadgets Learning World, for example, visitors see Newtonian mechanics in action by shooting balls into a Rube Goldberg-like contraption in which they roll, fall and bounce according to fundamental laws set forth three centuries ago. Or they awaken to the subtleties of modern chaos theory by sending a set of gangly-armed pendulums into seemingly random gyrations. For lighter fare, they line up at the Gadget Cafe "lunch counter" to work with a smorgasbord of hinges, coffeepots and other items. Using screwdrivers, scissors and pliers from the utensil rack, they build such original toys as tabletop cars powered by mousetrap springs.

Visitors to the grotto-like Ocean Learning World experience the mysteries of the sea. Wending their way through a dank cavern, they are suddenly plunged into an aquatic research center lined with industrial-steel walls and exposed pipes. There they can park themselves in a yellow submarine once used for deep-sea exploration or watch wet-suited guides equipped with scuba gear investigate a simulated shipwreck in an 85,000-gal. tank.

Another cavern leads to the oceans of legend lorded over by a statue of the sea god Poseidon and rimmed with playful fish fountains. Here too the goal is to teach. While the sound of crashing waves forms a sonic backdrop and voices are heard reciting Moby Dick and Eskimo poetry, visitors learn about the ebb and flow of the tides by building castles in the sand and watching as water washes away their carefully constructed turrets.

COSI doesn't want to be a Jurassic science park where exhibits are trapped in amber. It plans to add displays about new scientific discoveries. Nor does it wish to cater solely to kiddies. Its Life Learning World, for instance, aims at older audiences with a triumvirate of rooms dedicated to the body, mind and spirit. Video monitors show surgical procedures, discuss breast and testicular cancer and even demonstrate how to do self-examinations for signs of these diseases. Poignantly, Life Learning World includes an exhibit about a car wreck in which a 16-year-old from New Hampshire died. One side displays computer re-creations of the accident, showing how terribly fragile life can be. The other side talks about the lost teenager, stressing the accident's tragic human impact.

For those seeking pure escapism, COSI offers the Adventure Learning World. In an amusement park right out of Indiana Jones, visitors meander through an abandoned jungle kingdom via byzantine passages and past buried skeletons. Along the way, idols sing out cryptic clues to guide the explorers to hidden treasures. Yet even here, COSI teaches by encouraging questioning, perseverance, reasoning and inspiration. Says Sullivan: "Education is the whole purpose for COSI." But it's a purpose this kingdom of science along the Scioto River sweetens with heavy doses of fun.