An exciting science and nature center at Orange Beach follows the advice of Albert Einstein, "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." You have to think like a kid to "get" the Sea, Sand, and Stars Science and Nature Center. Adults see a pretty $2.5 million box, with all the bells and whistles. Kids recognize a portal to a whole 'nuther world. The learning door swings open as soon as the staff speaks the five words other adults don't dare whisper, "please touch everything you see." This place is all about kids! Orange Beach Elementary School Principal Steve Baker, and the county school board, stocked the center with the perfect team. Veteran high school teacher Lisa Allen brought 18 years of research experience and excitement about science to the mix. Elementary educator Rhonda Brantley helped her understand how to engage youngsters. Together, they breathed life into a dream. A cardinal rule for writers is show, don't tell. Allen reminisces about teachers who influenced her most, and they were not always talking. They were showing her things, allowing her to do, touch, manipulate. She could sense from their passion that what followed would be fun. They transformed dull into a blast! As she dances through our interview, I see that model in action. Her energy and enthusiasm are infectious. Touch this, try that, and watch! I'm swept away in a torrent of experience. She slakes my curiosity. How could any youngster not love this? AQUARIUM, AQUAPOD, WATERGARDEN The inside of the building is awesome. A 5,000 gallon saltwater aquarium, full of brightly colored reef fish, dominates the entrance. A shallow touch tank, left, entices visitors to handle denizens of the local waters - flounder, snapper, eel, puffer fish and fearsome-looking horseshoe crabs. Touching starts a relationship, brings marine life up close and personal. A state-of-the-art planetarium blasts visitors off from carpeted seats in a darkened room into an ever-expanding universe of pulsing stars and exploding suns. Classrooms bulge with technology and neat things, such as aquapods. All compete for attention. But, the feature that calls me loudest is outside the back door - the boardwalk. This is where kids get out there in it. Nestled beside the wooden walkway is the water garden. Native wax myrtles screen this outdoor classroom from surrounding buildings. The Alabama Wildlife Federation's Ponds for Kids program helped fund the garden. Youngsters dug the hole, put in the liner, and lined the bottom with rocks. Everything here is a school project. As contractors put in the boardwalk they discovered pitcher plants. The Forestry Commission did a controlled burn to clear underbrush that blocked the sun. The center now has its own restored pitcher plant bog. The pink and cream party-horn pitchers thrust toward the daylight, unfurling their often-unseen scarlet and green flowers. The walk is still puddled from the morning rain. Farther along, 20 upturned faces gaze intently at Brantley. Like satellite receivers, they focus on the teacher, ready to download excitement. Brantley continues her game of "let's guess." The whole school is studying weather this month. Pointing to objects atop the weather kiosk, she asks, "Which direction do you think the wind is blowing?" "What do we call the instrument that measures wind speed? Anemometer, right!" She showers the eager first-graders with words I'm surprised they understand: meteorologist, thermometer, and rain gauge. A blond girl does an anxious little dance on the boards, perhaps ignoring nature's call for fear she'll miss something. These are the same kids you see in the cafeteria talking loud, shoving, and interrupting. They're different children here. They are engaged. The boardwalk snakes 800 feet in a rough hexagon through a native coastal woodland. This is prime real estate. Terry Cove lies a half-mile south, Bay la Launch is a few blocks north. All the green space around the property is up for sale. Soon, this oasis will be the only undisturbed spot. Once developed, the surrounding land can never be returned to this pristine state. The natural diversity here is amazing. Placards along the railing identify the actors in this play. A marsh hawk perches in one of the tall, straight longleaf pines that dominate the upper story. Red maples, turkey and post oaks and fruiting Southern magnolias dot the midrange. Blackberry vines mount yaupon hollies and vie for space with saw palmettos and a variety of ferns in the understory. I sit in one of five shady kiosks, learning islands in a sea of green. I get still in a sultry breeze, imagining a class occupying the horseshoe of benches. The sounds of unseen birds return. Chip, chip, chip, chip - the insistent call of a songbird repeats every few seconds. Chew, chew, chew, chew, chew! A catbird rasps his annoyance. Po-weet, po-weet. The woods are alive. Between a bush and the railing, an industrious banana spider has strung a several-layered web. She sits in the center awaiting a tug from a snared prey. Air-trash hangs from several threads like pieces of a mobile. Allen would turn this creation into a lesson on the architecture of spider webs. In her eyes, nature is an art form, not just something to passively walk through. Sea, Sand, and Stars is important. It's a place kids can dance with Mother Nature on their own terms. They can meet and love the horseshoe crab, the marsh hawk, the butterfly and the pitcher plant. What they touch also touches them. Things that fascinate them as children, they'll want to protect as adults for their own kids. Allen remembers her initial hesitation to take the job. "At first I said, 'Oh, no!' But when I saw what I could do to prepare younger grades for high school and college, I got really excited." Allen is growing the next generation of green scientists. And, someday, one of her students will tell an interviewer about the teacher who changed her life. SEA, SAND & STARS Science and nature center, affiliated with Orange Beach Elementary School, is available for field trips, mainly for K-6 students. Contact Lisa Allen to schedule 251-981-5690, lallen@bcbe.org Photos by Dennis Holt