People Can Learn Science by Looking at the Artifacts!

Today we visited the Franklin institute. This museum is an example of an interactivity museum. The exhibit we got to experience was Electricity; Kristen who was the designer and manager of the exhibit gave us a talk about the use of artifacts and history; they are an important part of the exhibit. She claimed that the people wanted to see artifacts of Ben Franklin. I agree with her, maybe because I am bit bias since I study archaeology or because looking at the artifacts can give people an idea on how Ben Franklin lived his life.   This is the one of the first exhibits to have touch screen monitor in the country. The touch screen lets the audience read the book written by Franklin himself.  It also gives a better view of the artifacts that are displayed in the cases. She talked about the importance of the artifacts and it made me think of  what Hilde Hein said ‘that by using everyday things and examples drawn from day to day experiences,…the wonders of the world are everywhere, directly under our noses and go unnoticed,’( 1986:30; Henning ,86).

We got to venture through the exhibit looking at all of the different activities. My least favorite was the light bulb where the person had to turn the crank to light the light bulb. None of them lit up, so I’m guessing it takes a lot of energy to light a light bulb. The display about how much energy a city uses was my one of my favorites beside the telephone screen and the dance floor. The city displayed made people work together to “build” a greener society and the color changed green when there was least energy was being used and red when the most was being used; yellow indicated a medium.  The telephone screen was neat. I think it lights up more when an AT&T costumer is calling someone because the lights go crazy and they didn’t do that with a different cell phone provider. The dance floor was interesting because the more people that dance on it the more it lit up.  Kristen was telling us that the main messages being conveyed through this exhibit was everyday messages. An example is that people need to work together, and the dance floor is a prime example of that.  This made me think of this week’s readings and how the Exploratorium.  How the creator of it wanted to show that science can be fun but it was also dangerous. That message can be seen in the display with the key and how when the key was touch people felt a shock. This display surrounds the myth of Ben Franklin and the key, but it teaches people don’t touch metal objects in a storm because you can get zapped.

            The whole process of how an exhibit is interesting to look at especially how everything gets displayed. Kristen touched based on this a little bit, and she explained to us how much work it is to create a display. I’m glad we got the opportunity before class to looks at all the design plans.  For example in the 2008 plans there was an exhibit or displayed that show people the electricity in their brains.  That wasn’t displayed in the exhibit, but instead one about electricity in the muscles which was pretty fascinating, this was a good experience and the museum was interesting to see. Allison, Alex, and I got a sneak peek of the heart exhibit. It was cool to listen to all of the different animals heart beats; we didn’t go through the art though. I guess I will save that for another trip.

This is a terrible picture that I took of the Telephone screen.

Fact or Fiction

Today we visited The Academy of Natural Sciences; which was the first natural history museum in the country. The display strategies that are used are the diorama and peepholes. When you first walked into the museum you were greeted by the dinosaurs on the right and to the left was the gift shop. I thought the layout was interesting. The cabinet displays of the different creatures as you walked forward from the entrance appeared to be telling the audience the summary of the museum exhibits. The one thing I thought was interesting was that in the beginning we were all whispering our different ideas; I didn’t realize that Alex pointed it out. That made me realized how museums could be places of discipline.  The dinosaurs were the first exhibit I explored. They were huge; I couldn’t imagine living in the same world with these creatures.  I would be petrified. I went into the lab where they process the bones, the one”scientist” was explaining to the children the different types of bones and dinosaurs. The one question that I kept asking myself was how do these paleontologists know all this information? Did they live with these creatures? I like dinosaurs they are interesting; I want to know where all this information is coming from.

                The second floor consisted of the dioramas of Africa and Asia. The Egyptian mummy was out of place, it did not go with the rest of the exhibit. It should have placed somewhere else like on the first floor where they have a little blurb about “Lucy”. Lucy is one of the first ancestors of the human lineage.  Every time I come to this museum this is my favorite thing to look at; I feel like a little kid. When looking at them, you can put yourself in the diorama.  You become a part of the scene. That is what these depictions are trying to do.  The museum wants you to get the whole experiences. The painting in the background looked fake, but it meshed well with the animals. ‘The academy describes these dioramas, ‘a distinctive fusion of art and science. ‘(Smith; 1/28/10). They are a piece of art but also they teach lessons in nature. The diorama that caught my eye was located in the North American section; it was the polar bear one. The picture illustrated the bear killing the seal, at the bottom of the display there was blood and the seal looked dead. The message being conveyed is that these are furious creatures.

When venturing up the steps to the 3^rd floor I got to experience the Outside In. This portion of the museum is geared towards children, when wandering through the exhibit memories of my past flashed in my mind. Alex and I didn’t realize it was closed. On the third floor we got to learn about the different types of birds, and see them displayed as well. The strategy they used here was the peeping hole affect. Even though you know what you were looking at you still had to bend your head and put your face closer to the glass to see the birds. 

I liked the museum, but the one thing that bothered me was that there weren’t any humans displayed in these dioramas. Why is that? It was the first history museum to be opened why aren’t there any humans or ancestors of humans displayed in it? The museum as I mentioned earlier did have a blurb about Lucy, and how the human can walk like a dinosaur, but they did not go much into depth with it. Did the museum have a controversy about humans being displayed in the past? Or are they trying to convey the message that we are the humans walking through the museums and that’s why there isn’t a display.

an historical figure?

There are some historical achieves that insist that Betsy Ross didn’t live in the house that is located on 2^nd and Arch. There is other information claiming that she didn’t make our first flag either.  When learning this information, it reminded me of the Simpsons’ episode where Lisa discovers that Jebodiah Springfield wasn’t really a hero, but a criminal. In the end Lisa didn’t tell Springfield her discovery because of this impact the “lie” over the community. Springfield had a great sense of pride in their community and Lisa didn’t want to take that away from them. That is what the history of Betsy Ross is like. Betsy is known to be one of the greatest historical figures throughout history, especially since she is a woman. In the begging of American history men are better known than women.

                Today I visited the Betsy Ross house with my class. I thought that the architecture of it was interesting since I didn’t know that house in the colonial times had their rooms stacked right on top of another. The museum is geared towards an audience that is not well informed of history because of the audio tour was very simplistic. For example there were reenactments of the different conversations. My favorite one was when George Washington asked Betsy to make the flag.  The one good thing about the audio tour was how they told you which direction to go and where the steps were. The artifacts in the house were interesting to look at. I have many questions about the house. One how do they know that Betsy Ross lived in the one room?  The audio said the house was rented out to many occupants and there was no information on who stayed in which rooms. The portion of the tour when they were talking about Betsy’s personal life reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. Betsy could not marry John because he was an anglo-saxon and her religion was Quaker.  She left her religion and joined his. The myths about her and the colonial period were on the walls throughout the house.   My favorite part of the tour was at the end when the “tour guide “said there is a gift shop inside please stop in and look around.

                Looking back on the house and the tour I would have enjoyed it more if I didn’t read for Thursday class. Knowing that what I have learned growing up wasn’t real made me feel like Lisa Simpson, angry. Having time to reflecting on it I came to the same realization that even though Betsy Ross might have not been the true maker of our flag, but the myth gave women in America pride and hope.