Take stories, add experiments, get fun-filled learning 

When Edmund Nalzaro of Piscataway took his four kids to the John F. Kennedy branch of the Piscataway Public Library on a recent Tuesday night, he was just there to check out some library books for his children and maybe even get one for himself.

But instead he learned about the science behind dry ice and about exploding cups. He saw his kids join other squealing children rushing to a bucket of seething thick fog -- all when he stopped by to catch the library's "sciencetelling" show.

"It was so much fun," Nalzaro said. "But I never expected to learn so much, too."

That exact reaction was something that Andrew Piccirillo, 26, had in mind. The Hillsborough resident and "scienceteller" has been staging "sciencetelling" shows, stories combined with visually arresting science experiments, for the past two years.

"It combines my love of story telling and science," Piccirillo said. "This way, kids can learn in a fun and easy way."

Piccirillo cited as inspiration his high school chemistry teacher, who taught science through demonstrations and accidentally had his tie catch on fire during the very first experiment.

"But nobody has gotten hurt during my shows," Piccirillo said. "I always stress safety first and tell kids that only their parents can handle matches and fire."

Piccirillo has no background in science aside from classes in high school and college.

"You see, anybody can do science if they love it enough," he said.

Piccirillo instead majored in marketing and psychology at Rutgers University and graduated in 2001. Finding no job in the marketing field, he joined several science programs and foundations and worked in the children's education departments.

"I discovered that I am really good with children," he said. "I'm a natural teacher."

It was only gradually that the whole idea of teaching science through stories and fun demonstrations dawned on him.

"I took a chance," he said. "I know this isn't the usual career path that people are taught to follow, but I really love it."

Citing the support of his parents and friends, he's been staging shows at libraries, performance showcases and children's birthday parties all over central New Jersey.

"This is something I want to do for the rest of my life," he said. "I just enjoy it so much."

The assembled children at the Piscataway Public Library certainly approved.

"It was awesome," Alioune Ba, 8, of Piscataway said. "It was so much fun and I learned about dry ice."

Ba got to volunteer for one of the experiments that Piccirillo staged. He had the boy hold a glass beaker full of warm water and dropped in pieces of dry ice. Seconds after, thick white fog streamed from the flask's mouth as all the children got on their feet and cheered.

The experiments that day were in part to illustrate a story called "Dragons and Dreams," a tale about two villagers who try to rescue their kingdom from an evil ice sorceress and her icicle soldiers.

"Can you guys say sublimation?" Piccirillo asked the audience when he took out pieces of dry ice from a cooler.

"That's what happens when dry ice, frozen carbon dioxide, turns into gas," he explained about the fog caused by the melting dry ice. "It doesn't melt like normal ice."

The dry ice figured in many of the demonstrations. Much to the delight of all the children, he dropped a big chunk of it into a fog machine and aimed huge hoses at the audience. He even made sudsy bubbles when he dipped a nozzle full of sublimating dry ice into a dish of soap.

Maguette Ba, 7, of Piscataway got a big dollop of bubbles on her head, as did everybody else.

"I liked all the experiments," she said.

Wendy Grant of Somerset was a little afraid that her 14-month-old toddler, Michael, would cry during the demonstrations, especially when Piccirillo caused empty bottles to rocket plastic cups to the ceiling by using some electricity, but Michael didn't cry.

"You can tell he likes the show," Grant said.

During the finale, when Piccirillo dropped the rest of his supply of dry ice into a bucket of warm water, Michael joined the other children squealing and laughing in the thick fog.