HIDDEN HILLS : Students Learn Science Lessons Can Be a Blast

Spencer Nikosey says the thing he likes best about hanging out with his famous grandfather is “you get to blow up stuff.” Not to mention playing with matches and lighter fluid in front of the entire school and not getting in trouble.

Indeed, life is never dull for the 11-year-old grandson of Don Herbert, alias Mr. Wizard, who has been on TV since 1951 teaching kids about science.

Mr. Wizard made a personal appearance Friday at Round Meadow Elementary School, where he entertained 350 fourth- and fifth-graders with various experiments designed to make science simple. Spencer and his 7-year-old sister, Danielle, also a student at the school, were among the kids who helped Mr. Wizard perform his experiments.

Most of the kids recognized him from television. Some, including fifth-grader Ilan Bacher, got Mr. Wizard’s autograph. “I want to be a science teacher,” Ilan said. “I like doing experiments.”

The kids cheered as Mr. Wizard and the kids conducted various demonstrations, including one in which they created a sort of popgun out of gunpowder, matches, a long metal cylinder and a metal cup. It was designed to help kids understand how energy works.

Herbert, who trained to be a science teacher, said his teaching methods are a break with traditional learning, which relies heavily on textbooks. The idea, he said, is to motivate kids through hands-on experience.

“You have to find a problem, a puzzle, that is intriguing enough to a child, to make them want to figure it out,” said the 77-year-old Herbert, who lives in Bell Canyon with his wife, Norma.

The Mr. Wizard television programs used the same format as Friday’s demonstration. The shows have aired on various stations since 1951, beginning with “Watch Mr. Wizard,” a half-hour weekly program on NBC.

“Mr. Wizard’s World,” hatched in 1983, currently airs on the Nickelodeon cable television channel. His latest project, which debuts this fall on Nickelodeon, is called “Teacher to Teacher With Mr. Wizard.”

Herbert has received wide acclaim from educators for getting kids interested in science. “Many people who are science teachers say they got their start because they watched Mr. Wizard on TV,” said Lisa Dritz, Round Meadow’s principal.

His soft-spoken manner appeals to children, Herbert’s wife said. “He is just sort of a gentle, grandfather type, and kids have always felt comfortable with him,” Norma Herbert said. “He isn’t dictatorial to them.”