Around The World in 90 Minutes

We had a great time with Marty Essen on July 10-11. If you missed it, here's an interview with the author and explorer. For more information on Marty or his book, visit www.coolcreatureshotplanet.com

Kelly: So tell me about your show.

Marty: My show features interesting facts, humorous stories, and the best of thousands of photos I took while traveling the world for my book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. It's the type of show where the audience has fun laughing at the stories, oohing and aahing at the photos, and then, when it's all done, they realize just how much they've learned.

Kelly: Sounds like fun! How did this all begin?

Marty: Around the World in 90 Minutes began as a show that I presented in bookstores as part of his first book tour. Later, after numerous refinements, the show took on a life of its own in colleges, museums, and nature centers across the United States. In fact, it has been APCA’s (a major college activities association) #1 booked lecture for eight months straight.

Kelly: Can you tell me and the parents some of the highlights?

Marty: Highlights of my show include: amazing animal facts, debunking animal myths, cuddly wallaroos and spiny walking sticks, charging elephants and howling wolves, deadly snakes and friendly penguins, bizarre creatures and endangered species, swimming with piranhas, kayaking in the rainforest, hiking with the Porcupine caribou migration, rafting with humpback whales, and surviving a hippo attack in Zimbabwe!

Joel Gordon on...Backyard Science

JOEL GORDON with daughter Lily

I had the pleasure of conversing with Joel Gordon, Museum of Discovery Exhibit Director, about Backyard Science, a cool new exhibit at the Museum. Joel designed and installed this exhibit, so he has a lot of cool insights about it.

KM: So, what is the exhibit BACKYARD SCIENCE about?

JG: The point of Backyard Science is to teach that science is everywhere, it’s not a far out discipline reserved for mega-geniuses, it’s all around us. What we want people to take away from BYS is an excitement and urge to explore their own back yard. When kids are watching the ants in their back yard, it’s science. When rain clouds gather, it’s science.

KM: "Backyard science" seems to be a buzzword lately. Can you tell us why?

JG: If you get online and search “back yard science” you’ll get hundreds of pertinent hits. You will see kids doing experiments at home on You Tube, you’ll see instructions for doing experiments yourself with your kids. It’s a popular movement that encourages a real connection with the sciences all around us.

KM: You designed this exhibit, right?

JG. Yes. I designed it and the Museum of Discovery cooperated with the Arkansas Discovery Network to build the exhibits. I wanted to see a few exciting exhibit pieces that spanned a range of disciplines. This gives our kids a chance to show us what branch of science they could get excited about. Biology, physics, astronomy and earth sciences are some of the disciplines children will be exposed to.

KM: Why is Backyard Science a smaller exhibit?

JG: BYS is a small exhibit for two reasons; we don’t want to overwhelm, we want to entice and encourage discovery at home and we want this exhibit to travel easily. The Network wants this exhibit to travel to other parts of the state and give smaller communities an opportunity to benefit."

Thank you so much Joel, for giving us blog readers some firsthand information on Backyard Science.

Backyard Science is now open and part of the Arkansas Museum Road Trip. The exhibit was developed by the Museum of Discovery in cooperation with the Arkansas Discovery Network, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. We want to thank Bank of America for sponsoring.

Remember that on these HOT summer days, the Museum is a GREAT place to visit! Leave us a comment and let me know all about it!

Tammi Helmick & Robinson Elementary: TOP SCHOOL TEAM 2009

We'd like to introduce you to TAMMI HELMICK.

Ms. Helmick is a teacher at Robinson Elementary and a fitness buff who has championed Dino Dash for the past several years at Robinson.

Ms. Helmic's team has been the #1 school team for the past several years, including 2009! Her team will be treated to a pizza party for the kids at the Museum of Discovery this fall.

Earlier this year, the Museum of Discovery kicked off its 2009 Dino Dash registration drive by having an event at Robinson Elementary.

Robinson students, like the one pictured here, shared why they like Dino Dash.

Jeff and Lisa from B98.5 attended and congratulated the students for their work well done.

Jeff Maher, Race Director, showed Robinson students the big stuffed dino that we raffled off at Dino Dash.

Leah Thorvilson, Little Rock Marathon winner and Dino Dash 2009 1K starter led a lively warmup activity and dino prizes were given out.

Tammi was given a dinosaur puppet (donated by TOY UP!) as a thank you for her hard work. Thanks, Tammi, for being a great supporter of fitness and of the Museum of Discovery! We'll see you this fall for your team's pizza party!