SCIENCE MUSEUM'S NEW LOOK : CLASSROOMS, AQUARIUM TO JOIN CENTER.

Byline: Jeanne Mariani-Belding Daily News Staff Writer

The 50-foot-long figure with transparent skin lies on its back in a sunken pit, its organ systems illuminated by fiber optics. Behind it, a large theater screen displays pictures of real organs at work in a multimedia explanation of how the human body functions.

The human model is one of 500 exhibits that will make its home at the Science Center - a re-invention of the California Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park.

The $260 million renovation and expansion now under way will include a unique elementary school and a major aquarium in the middle of Los Angeles.

The sprawling 240,000-square-foot California Science Center will contain the school and a multimedia resource center for science educators.

The combination of private and public forces will put elementary school students and teachers on the leading edge of exploring new ways to teach and learn about science, said Jeffrey N. Rudolph, executive director of the California Science Center.

``We're looking to create a next-generation science education center. The combination of the school, the science resource center and the exhibit experience is unique and we're setting a trend nationally,'' Rudolph said.

Several other states are now creating similar models - following California's lead, Rudolph said.

The 900-student Science Center Elementary School is scheduled to open in the fall of 1998 and focus on science and math.

For the Los Angeles Unified School District, the project fits its new mission to improve how science and math are taught in district schools.

L.A. Unified recently received the first installment of a $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve its science and math instruction.

Although grants are available for up to 25 urban districts, Los Angeles - the second largest school district in the nation - is one of only 16 that have qualified for and received funding to date.

``The Science Center Elementary School and the resource center will very much become a laboratory for the reform efforts we are doing districtwide,'' said Amy McKenna, L.A. Unified's assistant superintendent for the Division of Instruction.

``It's a collaborative effort with the museum, the University of Southern California, which will provide teacher training and connections with scientists and mathematicians, and the school district,'' McKenna said.

Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory also is part of that partnership. It will contribute funding for resource programs, and provide information and staff, officials said.

The center's statistics show that women and minorities represent the fastest growing segments of the national work force, and are the least represented in careers pertaining to science and math.

With that in mind, the school purposely was structured as a neighborhood school to draw students from the surrounding South Central Los Angeles area, which is predominantly African-American with growing Latino and Asian-American populations, McKenna said.

``It's really a matter of survival. We need to teach kids to be mathematically and scientifically literate as a basic, and then train more of these youngsters for these jobs at a higher level of sophistication,'' McKenna said.``The goal is that more of these students will become scientists, mathematicians and engineers and get into these jobs that will be the jobs of the 21st century.''

The Science Center's exhibits will center on four themes: the World of Life; the Creative World; World of the Pacific; and Worlds Beyond.

The World of Life - home of the 50-foot-tall transparent human - explores how living things function. Within this world would be living plants and animals and a focus on the functions critical to survival.

The Creative World focuses on the man-made environment people have developed to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, communication and transportation, museum officials said.

``Exhibits there will range from earthquake experiences and look at how we design buildings to withstand earthquakes. . . . We'll have some virtual reality experiences and things like large whisper dishes, where you can stand on one side of the room and whisper a message to someone on the other side of the room to learn valuable lessons about sound,'' Rudolph said.

The World of the Pacific will bring the major aquarium to Los Angeles. This exhibit explores ecosystems of the Pacific Rim. It delves deep into California's coastal waters, into the icy Antarctic, explores colorful coral reefs of the Pacific Ocean and examines life in a tropical rain forest. In this ``world'' visitors learn about earth-shaping forces - like plate tectonics and continental shifts - and how living things have had to adapt to their environment.

The World Beyond leaves the earth's complexities behind for the thrill and challenges of flying machines - from planes to space shuttles. Travelers in the World Beyond will explore the solar system and ponder the possibilities of life in deep space with interactive exhibits creating the setting for simulated space missions and exploring the physical laws of nature.

The Science Center also will contain a three-dimensional IMAX theater that seats 480 with a screen that is 70-feet tall by 90 feet wide; a conference center; seminar and board rooms; a gallery for special exhibits; and food and retail shops.

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PHOTO Work is under way to turn the Museum of Science and I ndustry in Exposition Park into the Science Center by the fall of 1998.

Phil McCarten/Daily News