The Science of Fun : Education: Organizers of a hands-on museum hope that experiments and exhibits will capture the imagination of children and embark them on careers in medicine and science.

The children took turns spinning on a high stool. “Do you want to see me make the chair spin around?” asked Yvette Luna with a grin. The slight 10-year-old climbed onto the stool and asked one of the other fifth-graders to get her started.

Yvette, holding two-pound weights in each hand, extended her arms and brought them back to her sides. The seat twirled slowly when her arms were out and sped up when she brought her arms back. Her grin widened.

She was demonstrating physics: With arms extended she turned slower because the circumference of the circle was larger; with arms in, she revolved faster because the circle was smaller.

The students at North Ranchito Elementary School got to mix a little science with their fun at a sneak preview of the Southeast Youth Science Center. Located in an unused classroom, the hands-on science museum in Pico Rivera is still in its formative stages, but will open Saturdays in January.

Parents Val and Raul Garcia are creating the center, patterning it after the Hacienda Heights Youth Science Center. They have bought and borrowed exhibits, including a model steam engine, a stick-man figure on a bicycle that pedals furiously when exposed to sunlight, human skulls, and black widow spiders and crickets in glass jars.

“I never saw things like this before,” Yvette said after taking physics for a spin. “I never thought science could be fun. Before this, it was boring to me.”

Yvette was getting the effect precisely. The idea is to expose children of the El Rancho Unified School District to physical and natural science. And maybe, the Garcias hope, the center will make some of the youngsters curious enough to pursue careers in medicine or science.

“If 10 years from now, some engineers come out of this community, we’ll know where they came from,” said Raul Garcia. “We want them to get interested in science, so that we can compete in a global economy.”

The Garcias visited the Hacienda Heights Youth Science Center after Val read about it in a local paper. Housed at Wedgeworth Elementary School, it was established in 1984 by parents Ron and Judy Chong. In addition to presentations by engineers and scientists, the center sponsors field trips, including a recent harbor cruise at San Pedro led by a marine biologist, where children examined plankton under a microscope. Family memberships are $30 a year.

Ultimately, the Garcias hope to offer a similar science mecca at North Ranchito, 8837 E. Olympic Blvd., Pico Rivera. They plan to offer a $20 membership to families, but said no child would be turned away. The privileges of membership would include a monthly newsletter and information on summer classes.

The couple’s quest to establish the science center began with a plea to the school board for a classroom. The board found space for the center, which will be used by students in all nine elementary schools in the district, but the Garcias had to get a $1-million insurance policy.

“If there is an accident, or if anything is stolen, the school is not liable,” Raul Garcia explained.

The Hacienda Heights center loaned the Garcias $650 to cover the cost of the policy. In addition, they have received a $5,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente which will be used to buy two computers and a do-it-yourself superconductor kit. They also have applied for grants from other corporations.

The couple decided that financial constraints should not prevent their largely Latino, working-class community from having a place where children can learn.

“We felt that the children needed more attention, more enrichment,” said Raul Garcia, who owns a graphic design company. The couple have three children: Angelita, 12; Rueben, 9, and Vincent.

“We read about what the Japanese schools are doing, what the students are learning in Germany,” he said. “Our kids can’t compete because they have a weak foundation.”

At the sneak preview of the center last month, Tony Sandoval, a science teacher at Rivera Middle School, dissected a cow’s eye. Some of the children helped with the cutting and took turns touching the eye.

Chon Bribiescas, who runs a cultural center in Whittier, discussed scientific contributions of the native peoples of the Americas, such as quinine, which comes from the bark of the Cinchona tree in South America and is used in the treatment of malaria.

But it was the toy steam engine that captured Gabriel Ibarra’s imagination.

“I want to figure out how this works,” the 10-year-old said as he tried to join disconnected wires and moved the small levers with his fingers.

“It’s amazing to see how many kids were turned on by this,” said his teacher, Alejandro de la Loza.

Hands-on activities help students understand complex principles, he said.

“We talked about the principle of solar energy in class,” de la Loza said. “But seeing it at work, seeing the sunlight moving the figure, is very exciting to the kids. They begin to see why it makes sense to go to school.”

In March, the Garcias plan to have a grand opening, but the center will be open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays beginning Jan. 9.