Superheroes Can Help Get Kids Excited About Science.

It seems likely that 2011 and 2012 could be remembered as the years of the super hero movie. This month the highly anticipated Green Hornet hits the theatre and is reintroduced to a new generation of movie goers. Thor comes out in late May (with the beautiful Miss Portman as the scientist/love interest), followed by the Transformers, X-men, and Captain America in the summer. Then in 2012 you can expect another run of movies including the Star-Trek, The Avengers, and another Spider-Man movie. Use the interest children have in these movies to teach some science in the classroom. There's another version of classroom superheroes that teach science experiments to kids as well--the Quirkles® as well. Many of these characters such as Ollie Oxygen and Pressure Pete do save the day after going on their scientific adventures!

For more on superheroes and many more science ideas for your classroom sign up for The Quirkles monthly newsletter for free here. Each newsletter has free science experiments for kids and coloring sheets for you to download.

Here’s some super hero science trivia to capitalize on the movie crazes.

1. Q: One of the first superheroes was Superman, and one of his most exciting powers is his ability to fly. What’s the name of the natural force that keeps ordinary humans down to Earth? A: Gravity is the force that pulls objects together. It's what makes the Earth orbit the Sun and the Moon go around the Earth. The gravitational force between people and the Earth is what keeps us from floating away.
2. Q: When Peter Parker was bitten by a special spider, he gained many of the spider’s characteristics and became Spider-Man. Can you guess what type of animal a spider is? A: A spider might be hairy, but that doesn't make it a mammal! Spiders are arachnids, not an insects. The easiest clue is that it has eight legs and not six.
3. Q: Many superheroes have fought against the the Skrull, Kree, and other interesting aliens from far away galaxies. What is the name of our galaxy that we live in? A: A galaxy is a group of stars that usually has between ten million and a trillion of them in it. Our solar system (the Sun, Earth, and the other planets) is only a small part of our galaxy, the Milky Way — and there are many other galaxies in the universe. The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest to us out of all these other galaxies.
4. Extra Credit—Q: What is the galaxy—far, far away—that the Quirkles come from? A: It’s Quirk of course!

Check out even more Superhero science trivia here! Get the full January Quirkles newsletter for free and many more science ideas for your classroom by signing up at www.quirkles.com. Each newsletter has free simple science experiments for kids and activity sheets for you to download.