Franklin Institute's Electricity

Visiting the Franklin Institute is always good for learning something new.  This visit was about learning how to create an interactive, learning experience that still entertains the visitors. As a visitor, I took in the displays and was awed by the many sights at first.  The display of blinking lights for the cell phone calls called the “Electrical Signals” wall resembled an early Christmas display.  The Tesla Coil shooting off during the presentation was exciting and loud. The Sustainable Dance Floor makes even the least active people want to jump up and down.

As a student, I enjoyed the way the displays are laid out and opened toward other areas of the Franklin Institute.  The Nervous System display leading to the Heart, the Lightning Origins leads to the Earth Entry and the Lightning Mural leads to the Air displays.  The touch screen displays located in various locations allowed me to use 21^st century technology to learn how electricity works for me. 

As a Critic, I could not help but notice that some things just did not work for me.  One simple task was to build a circuit to see how it works. When more than three circuit legs were connected, the experiment did not work.  Some attempts to make the dance floor work did not work and even the entertaining Compromising Choices video game was confusing and the Green City Collaborative did not change colors as advertised.  I did notice an employee of the institute walking around with a clipboard running tests to ensure the interactivity and taking notes, but I did not notice any action taken.  With no class trips going through the display, I could not tell if some of the displays would entertain children.  I am sure that the Tesla Coil would catch their attention, but with it going off only once an hour, it would lose them quickly.

Overall, this display adds to the whole Franklin Institute experience and plays well into the history of Benjamin Franklin as well as science.  It ties in nicely to other exhibits and it has a 21^st century look and feel.  As a member of the institute this is not an area I was familiar with, as it seems hidden behind the Earth exhibit.  I believe more announcements should be made so that visitors get back there and perhaps some way to keep track of the number of visitors to the exhibit would help to improve the experience.

Philadelphia Museum of Natural Science

The Museum of Natural Science located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway is a current, fascinating look at a modern living museum.  The Dioramas provide a three dimensional view of animals in what may be considered a natural environment.  The sound of rushing water near the sea creature display even had me looking for the sea.  I watched a small child giggle with glee watching his mother run from dinosaurs on a large screen.  Jesse Smith asks how do these diorama makes us feel and I felt like a child myself.  Never having traveled to some of these remote locations that are displayed in the dioramas, I can view them with a bit of a skeptics’ eye because I would have to accept the settings as true rather than know for a fact if it is so.  Viewing the displays leaves me wondering if what I am seeing is the work of a taxidermist or an elaborate job

Jesse also asks why the paintings in the background are so bad and that is easy to understand, you do not want the viewer to be so impressed with the background, that he misses the foreground.  No image I saw behind any of the diorama appeared to be in high definition.  That is okay because visitors are not there to take in the art behind the animals.  The scenes looking the way they do is helps to show the strength of each animal.  The polar bear with the seal beneath his paw, the gorilla standing tall and the moose looking down on you each give you a sense of strength and ownership of his diorama.

Overall, I really enjoyed this visit and plan to make it a regular stop and next time, I will bring my camera.

Betsy Ross Home

The home many call the Betsy Ross’ House is located on a small street in the Old City section of Philadelphia.  A cozy house museum, with the aid of the Audio tour, visitors breeze through relatively quickly.  Sprinkled throughout the house are placards and displays that show what the life of a seamstress would be like in the late 18^th century. 

Upon entering the historic home, visitors are greeted by a souvenir section that obscures the view of the ticket window.  Presumably, like the way it was when it was a merchant store.  The existing displays are as if Betsy Ross is still staying at the home, as she did from 1773 to 1785 as claimed.   There are a few interactive displays but most are kept behind a glass partition where it is hard to verify the authenticity of the artifacts.  Two displays are fact or fiction placards that both state the same false myth about colonial heights. 

The audio portion of the tour slowed down the tour to a painful crawl.  The oral presentation allowed visitors to linger too long in each room when there was not enough space for visitors to congregate.  If a visitor to the city wants to visit the home, they would best be served by skipping the audio portion of the tour.  Overall, it is a nice piece of history even if we can not verify the accuracy of the claims.