Super Science

Hero Elementary isn’t a typical school. It’s where teacher Mr. Sparks helps superheroes learn to master their powers. The students include a tiny girl with super strength, a brainiac who builds incredible gadgets, an animal lover who can create force fields, and a girl who can fly but is afraid of heights. There’s also the class hamster, Fur Blur, who can move super fast.

Hero Elementary, a new series on PBS, follows these young heroes as they work together to solve problems and help their community. Often, they find they can’t rely on their superpowers for a solution. When that happens, they turn to science.

Carol-Lynn Parente is a cocreator of the show. She hopes Hero Elementary shows kids that they can use science in their everyday lives. “Science is active,” Parente told TIME for Kids. “It’s all about getting out there in the world and doing science.”

What superpower would Parente like to have? She’d like to be able to skip the coronavirus pandemic. “Right now, I would really love the power to fast-forward time,” she says. “So I could get to a place where hugs are in big supply and we’re through the worst of what’s going on in the world.”