More on the Firefly Project

National Children’s Museum LAUNCHES KID-CENTRIC ONLINE

CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

Ready, Set, Glow! Encourages Children to Become Stewards of their Environment through Firefly Observation

WASHINGTON, DC (June 29, 2009) – The National Children’s Museum (NCM) today announces the launch of Ready, Set, Glow!, a unique collaboration between NCM and the Museum of Science, Boston (MOS), designed to help children become “citizen scientists” through studying fireflies in their own backyards and inputting the data online. Through a kid-friendly website – www.ReadySetGlow.org – children can begin to learn about fireflies and how they can help scientists discover new information about the insects. The goal of the project is to engage kids in fun, inquiry-based learning and stewardship of the environment.

“Watching fireflies on summer evenings has been a favorite pastime of children for generations,” said Linda Coulombe, Manager of Science Programs at the National Children’s Museum. “Ready, Set, Glow! provides a unique opportunity for kids to explore their curiosity further and then supply real data to researchers studying the insects, empowering children to make a difference.”

NCM and MOS teamed up with researchers from Tufts University and Fitchburg State College to track fireflies as part of a larger entomological research project led by the institutions. Through Ready, Set, Glow!, the organizations hope to engage families and learn more about the geographic distribution of fireflies and their activity during the summer season.

On www.ReadySetGlow.org families meet Flicker the Firefly, who walks them through the site’s features. Parents can collect tips for engaging kids in science, and children can download activity sheets, play a firefly matching game, read firefly jokes, and learn how to “be a scientist” by conducting the citizen scientist project. Then, families can visit the MOS Firefly Watch project website at www.mos.org/fireflywatch to register their “habitat,” learn more about the science behind the project, and upload their gathered firefly data.

“NCM is committed to creating experiences that introduce kids to the outdoors in fun and meaningful ways and to giving families tools to use their senses to create personal connections with nature,” said Kathy Dwyer Southern, President & CEO of the National Children’s Museum. “This project demonstrates the Museum’s dedication to the environment and encourages and fosters an understanding and love of the natural world in children.”

Ready, Set, Glow! is one of a series of “kid citizen science” projects that NCM will be highlighting through programs at the Launch Zone over the next several months. The Museum will soon introduce the Lost LadyBug Project as well as Project FeederWatch, both led through a collaboration with Cornell University.

Support for Ready, Set, Glow! has been provided by an Innovation Generation Grant from Motorola Foundation.

About the Museum of Science

One of the world's largest science centers, the Museum of Science takes a hands-on approach to science and technology, attracting approximately 1.5 million visitors annually with its vibrant programs and over 700 interactive exhibits. Highlights include the Thomson Theater of Electricity, home of the world's largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator; the Charles Hayden Planetarium; the Mugar Omni Theater, New England's only 180-degree IMAX® domed screen theater; and The Gordon Current Science & Technology Center (GCS&T), which offers breaking news stories to the public with interpretation by Museum staff. In 2004, the Museum launched the National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®)—helping facilitate a nationwide expansion of technology literacy by working with regional schools, offering educational products and programs for pre-K-12 students and teachers, creating curricula, and supporting an online resource center. For more information, visit www.mos.org.

About the National Children’s Museum

Scheduled to open in 2013, theNational Children’s Museum(NCM) will be a world-class cultural and educational center dedicated to engaging children and empowering them to make a difference. The mission of NCMis to inspire children to care about and improve the world. Through its interactive exhibits, online community (www.ncm.museum), and unique national programs and partnerships, NCM is transforming the concept of a traditional museum by becoming a catalyst and forum for a national movement to inspire and empower kids to speak up, take action, and get engaged in their communities. Through 2013, NCM is operating as aMuseum Without Walls, participating in a variety of community events and working with other arts and cultural organizations to develop creative partnerships that benefit kids and families. This spring, NCM opened the Launch Zone, a 2,700 square-foot space at National Harbor where kids and families can prototype and test exhibit and program concepts. For more information, visit www.ncm.museum.

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Ready, Set, Glow! Firefly Project

Firefly Image from Uknowhy.comWe don't get many fireflies in our neck of the woods. I seem to recall a time when we did but I don't believe I have seen a firefly around here in years. I use to do some camping near Wellsville, NY and there were always plenty down there. My wife's sister's place is also host to a goodly number. Last time we were there the kids spent most of an evening chasing and catching them. Of course we let them go. As Quinn (barely 3 years old at the time) was involved in the activity, there were a few "incidents" but mostly the fireflies were unharmed.

So I was very interested to learn of the National Children’s Museum (www.ncm.museum)'s Ready, Set, Glow!, (www.readysetglow.org) Program, a program that empowers youth across the country to become “citizen scientists” by studying fireflies in their own backyards and recording their findings in an online database. The NCM launches Ready, Set, Glow! today, in partnership with the Museum of Science Boston (MOS).

NCM and MOS teamed up with researchers from Tufts University and Fitchburg State College to track fireflies as part of a larger entomological research project led by the institutions. Through Ready, Set, Glow!, the organizations hope to engage families and learn more about the geographic distribution of fireflies and their activity during the summer season.

Ready, Set, Glow! is the first “kid citizen science” project that NCM will be highlighting over the next several months. The Museum, whose mission is to inspire children to care about and improve the world, will also introduce the Lost LadyBug Project as well as Project FeederWatch, both in collaboration with Cornell University.

Top 20 Science Toys for Summer #13: GeoSafari® Dino Digs

Summers were made for digging in the dirt. If your kidz dig digging in the dirt and dinosaurs, then summer toy #13 is worth checking out. Kids experience the thrill of pateontological discovery with these great Dino Digs kits. There are four kits: Tyranosaurus, Velociraptor, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus. Kids use the included excavation tools to chip away at the included fossilized clay block, revealing the dinosaur fossils withing. Once excavated, the dino fossils can be assembled and displayed. Each kit comes with fossil block, tools, dust brush, wax adhesive, modeling stand and 32-page guide book. To check them out, click here: SKIT_FossilKits

Ice Cube Color Science

As we all know, when its hot you should wear light colors as they reflect heat while darker colors absorb heat. In other words, wearing a white shirt will keep you cooler than wearing a black shirt. To illustrate how different colors deal with heat, this experiment uses ice cubes and food coloring. First you'll need to make six ice cubes of different colors. One must be white and so can probably be made out of milk. Another must be black. You can either take all your food colors and mix them together to create a near-black color or use cola. Now create ice cubes that use red, yellow, green and blue colored water. Now take your ice cubes outside and place all in the sun. Which melts first? Which melts last? The black ice will melt fastest as it absorbs the most light; it is the most efficient Solar heat collector. The white will melt the slowest since it reflects most of the light. The other colors absorb all the light EXCEPT the ONE they reflect; this is the color they appear to us.

Something to think about however. Where the four color cubes are made of water with food coloring in it, the white cube was made of milk and the black cube was made of all the colors or cola. Could it be that the black cube melted quicker because it was made of cola? Would a cola cube melt faster or slower than a cube colored black by mixing all the food colors? And did the white cube melt slowest because it was milk and not water? What is milk made of anyway? These are the sorts of questions and follow-up experiments you can do with this.

Why are There 60 Minutes in an Hour?

Stumbled upon this very cool article from Gary Wallace at Scienceray about why there are sixty minutes in an hour.

To understand the units of time we need to investigate the number systems of ancient civilizations. How did the Sumerians count to 12 on one hand and to 60 on two?What advances did the Babylonians make and how did they use this number system for measurement?And what refinements did the Egyptians make to time measurement to give us the system we still use today?

It is easy to see the origins of a decimal (base 10) number system. Our hands have 10 digits to count on, so a decimal system follows naturally. With the addition of the toes on our feet a vigesimal (base 20) number system, like that of the Maya, also makes sense. But understanding a sexagesimal (base 60) number system, as used by the Sumerians, takes a little more thought.

A quick glance at a hand shows us four fingers and a thumb that can be used for counting. But the human hand is a complex machine consisting of 27 bones...

Some of these features are evident externally, especially in the fingers. By using the thumb as a pointer, and marking off the distal phalanx, middle phalanx and proximal phalanx of each finger, we can count up to 12 on one hand.

Read more here: Scienceray