Another Explainer Baby

Can you guess which Explainer Baby this is?

Email your guess to msmith@fi.edu
Prize for the first winning entry!

Calling Youth Reporters!

Concerned about violence in Philly? Here's your chance to change things with your pen....and possibly with a free laptop too!

Here's more from the contest sponsor:

The Pepsi Bottling Group is sponsoring a writing competition, in an attempt to hear and publicly voice the opinions of those most affected by the violence in Philadelphia, the young people.

The “Aquafina Youth Reporter Contest,” invites Philadelphia residents, between 16 and 25 years of age, to write a 500-word essay on “What causes youth violence and how can we stop it?” The contest is designed to raise awareness about violence in the community – and spark discussion about possible solutions.

Two winning essays, one by a male and one by a female, will earn the opportunity to serve over a two-month period, as an “Aquafina Youth Reporter” in The Philadelphia Tribune, where their winning essays, as well as one additional column on a subject of their choice, will be published in the newspaper from late October through December. Each winning contestant will also receive a laptop computer – to encourage them to keep writing.

Find out more about the contest, and entry rules by clicking on the photo above.

Rover, Rover

21 months and counting......that's how long the Mars Rover have been exploring the surface of Mars and sending back amazing photos. The Rover project has been so successful that NASA is already thinking of what the next rovers will look like.

Learn more about NASA's new ROVERS here.....and learn more about NASA's current rovers on your free time at the museum's IMAX.

AIDS WALK 06

This past Sunday, I participated in the AIDS WALK with my school The walk began at 9:00, but I arrived late and didn't get to walk with all the people from my school and there wasn't a huge crowd as it usually would be when the walk starts. However, there was a good number of people walking, skating, or riding their bike. I walked with my friend from school and the two of us had so much fun!

Most of the time we walked we talked, joked, and sung along to the music we were listening to which really got us more pumped to walk. We also stopped to take some pictures by this cute little waterfall where a stream of water fell on the rock. We walked the whole 8.4 miles and when it was over our legs were worn out!

Just before we got around to the finish point I pulled a muscle in my right leg… but I still finished with a smile on my face and been limping ever since. The walk was really fun and I just hope next year, since I won't be able to walk with my school, that the most of the people in PACTS, if not all, will do the walk together.

POSTED BY EXPLAINER JACQUELYN HILL

Stopping the Violence

With the number of murders in Philadelphia now over 300, everyone is concerned about the level of violence in the city. Most at risk are teens our age.....on Columbus Day, we attended a rally hosted by the School District of Philadelphia. Also in attendance were other local school & student groups, who listened to addresses from FOX 29's Dave Huddleston and School Superintendent Paul Vallas. Hopefully, this march will be one of the inspiring events that will help to turn the tide of violence in our city.

Here are some photos Explainer Jacqueline Hill captured:

Our man in IT

Editors' note: Explainer Mario Leone is currently spending his school work-study hours with an internship in the museum's Information Technology department. Here he shares his initial impressions of the experience.


IT has been fun, my internship has been going on for about 3 months now, andI'm starting to get into the swing of things. I am so lucky to have thisinternship, it's a fun job, and it's at a great institution. It's nice towork in a place as fun as TFI. I am working with user support, so if there are any computer problems around, you'll probably see me!


POSTED BY EXPLAINER MARIO LEONE

Quick Snap!

Some brotherly love....and a push by the staff!

What is PEERS?

PEERS...We're all about the environment!!!!! For those who don't know, PEERS is the environmental education component of PACTS. (PACTS Environmental Education Research and Service). We have workshops at The Franklin Institute on the 2nd&3rd Saturday of the month.This year we will be exploring watershed ecology. Last Saturday, we traveled to the Wissahickon Environmental Center in order to conduct ac reek study. We got a little wet and a little dirty, but we had lots of fun exploring the environment and searching for aquatic invertebrates. I'ms orry this blog is brief, but please stay tuned for further updates and pics.

By the way, if you need more information about PEERS, visit us online!

Your favorite tree hugger,
Shawanda

Its Dry out there

Yo.....anyone else notice that we are in a drought? A MOVIE drought. Its happening right now. With movies like "Employee of the month" coming out, no wonder the box office is in a slump. Let's hope "The Departed" is as good as they say it is.

Did I mention that Dane Cook is not funny?

See you at the ticket line!

POSTED BY EXPLAINER DREW GRIFFIN

PACTS Flashback

Not really a flashback, but.......

The 2006 Explainer Team Photo.

Behind the Scenes

PEERS Program Leaders Shawanda Spivey and Amanda Buck plan for another Saturday workshop.

More Quality Time

Did you ever stop to think about spending more time at the really cool place we work? The Franklin Institute is an exciting place! There are a lot of exciting exhibits such as medical and biological sciences, the railroad hall, communications, a working weather station, video technology, and more! Each of the exhibits is fascinating, showing you fun new ways to learn. Start planning something fun for your next visit now at www.fi.edu

POSTED BY EXPLAINER HELENA MOSES

Robot Team UPDATE

I know all of you see us in the robot lab wondering what we are up to.....right now we're continuing our research on nanotechnology. The regular robtics team also built some of the obstacles needed for this years' Lego competition course, and started learning some ins and outs about programing. The Teen Titans, the older robot group learned about soldering and resistors.....

There will be a creation premiering soon...until then...no peeking!

Posted by Explainer (and Teen Titans Member) Kirk Butler

The results of war

I wonder how we got to war with Iraq. Well, hind sight is only good if you can travel through time. With the disaster and those that followed, the United States has lost its standing in the world. We may still be powerful in some way, but without allies we are nothing. Some casualties of this administration's actions are our moral high ground, the Geneva convention,world security, and the economy.

Where is Bush leading us next…

POSTED BY EXPLAINER BEN LEONE

EDITORS NOTE: You can keep track of headlines regarding the war on terror via google.com/news

Why I was in a bad mood at the last staff meeting

.....At cheerleading practice last night we were doing this stunt where the flyers twist in the air and when another cheerleader went up, she then came down on me! After barely recovering, my coach had us doing this weird exercise where your hands are up and your leaning side to side..... and I hurt my back. My back started bothering me and now I am limping. I love cheerleading but I don't like getting hurt. Or sitting for too long at the Explainer meetings while my back hurts......

POSTED BY EXPLAINER MARLENA BROWN

Explainers in ACTION!

Last week, Mario and I participated in the World Space Week celebration here at the museum. To my surprise, this event was CRAZY Fun! We were placed in charge of the Alka-Seltzer rocket demonstration, where we gave each kid a film canister filled with warm water (about a quarter of the canister) and they had to put half of an Alka-Seltzer tablet into the water, close it up and flip it over.

Next, we did a count down from five while the pressure built up in the film canister until it went shooting up in the air. Everyone loved it, moms, dads, me, and especially the kids. All of their faces just lit up and were amazed! As the canisters were coming down the kids tried to catch them before they fell to the floor. We gave many of them the canisters so they could try the experiment at home. After many demonstrations Mario and I ran out of Alka-Seltzer tablets and ended the fun. It would have been great to get a couple of pictures of the kids doing the demonstration but I didn't have my camera with me and I don't have a camera phone I could have used… I didn't know exactly what we would be doing during SPACE WEEK, and didn't expect that it would be so much fun, but I'm glad it was.

Posted by Explainer Jacqueline Hill

Explainers meet with PACTS Staff to plan their route early Monday Morning

(ok...not that early..10am)

In the footprints of Franklin's Home

Taking the same stroll as Ben...on the same path..(just without the cane)

Discovering Franklin Square

Time for LUNCH......

In the Footsteps of Franklin

Most Philly school students enjoyed the first Monday in October off from school as a free holiday by either hitting the malls, hanging with friends, or chillin' in general....except for the PACTS Explainers, who chose to expand their horizons (so to speak), by walking in the steps of our museums' namesake.....Benjamin Franklin.

Our first stop was Franklin Court, just east of the Liberty Bell & Independence Hall. The court is on the site where Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia home and print shop once stood. The National Park service has erected and/or restored seven different museums highlighting the inventions and life of Franklin here. The coolest parts of this tour included the underground museum, and being able to walk down the original cobblestone path that Franklin once used to access his properties.

Our second stop, (about four blocks from Franklin Court), is the recently restored Franklin Square. Long considered "abandoned", the tourist group "Once Upon a Nation" has obviously spent lots of time and money to restore the square that now features a real working carousel, playground, plenty of open green space, a fountain....and the highlight...a full 12 hole mini golf course.

Years after his death, we're sure Ben would be proud of his legacy, on the Parkway, and in the historic district. By the way, the Franklin Court museums are free....and a must see whenever you are in the area.

Be sure to check out the photos of our visit in the next post.....

Checkmate!

Queens, Rooks, and Knights...

OH MY!

If you recognize the three items mentioned above, then you're familiar with the game of chess.

Current Chess World Champ, Garry Kasparov became world chess champ at the tender age of 22.

With so many smart minds in PACTS, it's no wonder one of our mentors has proposed starting a PACTS Chess Team. Everyone is welcome, from beginners to experts...we'll work out the details of when and where we'll meet later.

Wanna Join? Drop an email to Mike Cunningham.

PACTS Flashback

Back in 1997, Men in Black was the one of the most popular summer movies, and Power 99 rocked Erykah Badu's "Next Lifetime" and Puffy's "Can't Nobody Hold me Down". Plus this was this year that everybody's graduation song was R. Kelly's "I believe I can fly".

Somewhere in there, the first team of PACTS Explainers learned how to post pages on the still-new Internet, and posted their research on the Franklin (then called Bower) awards. The link below will take you on a journey to the past, first stop, the first ever PACTS homepage including the awards stuff, and pics of almost everyone from that first Explainer team.

For those who can't wait....here's a snapshot of the first ever pond research team from 1997 (when overalls and pink blazers were still hot).



First ever PACTS Webpage

Sumobots & More

If you've been around PACTS for a while, then you know we're about doing things BIG! In addition to an award winning robot team, we're also known for our standing-room-only First Lego League (FLL) contests. Now it's time to take on the big guys, Sumobots & Battlebots to be specific. PACTS is hosting our first Amateur Robotics Fair this October. Find out more at the museum website, or at the Philadelphia Robotics Alliance website.

There's still time to register if you have a Sumobot ready to battle.

Everyone else, there's still plenty to see and do if you show up to the fair!

Big Money Mike!

PACTS Explainer Manager Michael Cunningham has been on a media tour as of late, spreading the word about PACTS....and our programs all over the media. Last week, Mike appeared in the "Art Museum Home News" and in the front page feature of the Philadelphia Tribune's Learning Key magazine.

Pretty soon, the "Big Money Mike" column made famous in the PACTS newsletter will make it's return to our online blog.....be sure to check him out before here first.....the beginnings of a STAR (according to Mike C.)

Explainer Baby Shots

Can you guess which Explainer baby this is?




Alright....there is one big CLUE in the photo.
Send your PACTS baby pic to msmith@fi.edu

Explainers on the Move

PACTS Explainer Kyle Funchess ruminates over the schedule of activities for this week...will there be enough time for homework??

October 1- Participation in TFI's celebration of World Space Week

October 2- Explainer Rap Session/Field Trip to Independence Mall

October 4- Hosting PACTS table at Educators' Night Out

Our first post!

Welcome to the online home of PACTS Rap! Bookmark this page, and you'll be able to keep up with every on-going in the PACTS Community...if you're a PACTS Member, be sure to send your postings to msmith@fi.edu