ZIPPY ZALOOM A SCIENTIFIC ZEALOT

Paul Zaloom wasn't wearing his "roadkill" wig or green lab coat when he walked into the Children's Express office. In his plain black shirt and pants, he looked like anyone you would meet on the street.

If you've ever seen his show, Beakman's World, you wouldn't expect him to be ordinary. A cross between Pee-wee's Playhouse and science class, Beakman's World teaches science in a way that's fun and unusual.

Zaloom - as Beakman - might explain how a bed of nails works or why the sky is blue. He might even show how to make paper at home using old newspaper.

With corny humor, bright colors and constant action, Beakman's World not only entertains, but teaches.

Zaloom says his show "tries to put the fun back in science that's been a little bit pounded out of it in the course of schooling."

We found it surprising that even though he is on a science show, he didn't like science as a kid.

"I found it very difficult the way it was taught to absorb it, and it wasn't as much fun as I think science is taught today," he says.

Beakman's World airs at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WISH (Channel 8). The show, based on the newspaper comic strip You Can with Beakman and Jax, started syndication in 1992 and moved to the CBS network in 1993.

On any given Saturday, 40,000 people ages 2 and up are watching, according the February 1994 Nielsen Media Research ratings.

Zaloom teams with an assistant named Liza (played by Eliza Schneider) and a guy dressed in a rat suit, Lester (played by Mark Ritts). Together, they wisecrack their way through experiments and explanations of scientific facts.

Zaloom thinks the show is popular because of "the sort of wildness of it, the crazy humor, that giant mouse with his big tail and tattoos. The energy of it, I would imagine, is appealing to a lot of children.

"We try to find amusing ways to treat the material. We try to find funny ways. We try to use the humor that's inherent in it and also the humor that's built in to the relationships of the different characters."

"What's the longest snake in the world?" Beakman asks on one show.

"My agent," answers Lester.

"No, your agent has been a snake the longest, but the longest snake is the anaconda. It's 30 feet long."

Zaloom finds children take more interest in ideas presented to them in an amusing way.

"I think humor is important in everything," Zaloom states. "If you take things too seriously, you won't be taken seriously. . . . Humor is the solvent of the human condition."

He says there is a great need for more science shows for kids because statistics show that 50 percent of third graders and 80 percent of eighth-graders don't like science.

"It's legitimate to teach science to children starting from the first grade, particularly things they know immediately that they have in their world that they can connect to," he points out.

"My feeling is that Beakman's World is just one of a number of different partners in terms of educating children about science," he continues. "The partners, I think, are parents, schools, Beakman's World, museums, environmental centers, and the government through the Children's Television Act of 1990."

Zaloom believes that interactive television, like that of Beakman's World, is very important in educating children about science. He says that because the show has actual experiments that "you can duplicate at home . . . it's less of a coach-potato thing."

The message Zaloom tries to get across is "that science is fun, it's fascinating, it's very interesting and it applies to your everyday life. It's not some obscure thing that's impenetrable and not understandable."

Beakman's World not only teaches kids more about science, but Zaloom as well. "I'm like a kid. I know somewhat more about science than the average person. The show has allowed me to learn a lot."

EDITED BY: Lisa Schubert, 14