Walls are going up!

Phase I of renovation continues.

Remember, we are STILL OPEN to the public! 

For more information about the Museum's renovations, including artist renderings of the new areas, visit www.anewMOD.org  You can be part of this new plan by donating to our capital campaign, either by buying a brick or making a donation.

The Door

Here is the door that the construction (or rather, demolition) crew built to shield the museum from dust. It is located downstairs near the Native American exhibit. See the new museum plans at www.anewMOD.org and remember, we're open through April 2, 2011, so come visit!

December 8, 2010

December 16, 2010

December 22, 2010

Santa's demolition elves have been busy...

The (former) program staff offices have come a long way in a week.  More walls down...lighting fixtures coming down...flooring being removed...demo, demo, demo! More walls come down!
Remember, we're still open through April 2, 2011 so come visit us. http://www.anewmod.org/ has more info about our renovations, including artist renderings!

Mrs. Brown's Kindergarten Class

The Museum of Discovery received a wonderful set of thank you notes

 from Mrs. Brown's Kindergarten Class at Williams Magnet School.

Here is a sample!

 

Do you have a picture you'd like us to post?  Send it to marketing@amod.org!

More demolition

More walls come down!
Remember, we're still open through April 2, 2011 so come visit us. The demolition is in our "back office" area--there's plenty to see in the Museum. www.anewMOD.org has more info about our renovations, including artist renderings!

Lively Science

Did you know that the Museum of Discovery can bring the Museum to you? 

We have many live animals in our animal collection that we would love to show you in person. Our specially trained Museum educators will teach science using these live animals...and some animals you can touch and hold! 

Have your school, day care, church, community group, etc. contact Beth Nelsen to book your "Lively Science" visit!  bnelsen@amod.org or (501) 396-7061

And the walls...come tumbling down...

The refrain to a John Cougar Mellencamp song came to mind when we saw the result of today's demolition work in what used to be some of our staff offices. For a live construction cam of our outdoor renovations, visit http://www.anewmod.org/. Remember, we're still open until April 2, 2011, so come visit!

Arkansas Women Bloggers @ MOD: A Recap, Fawn Warner-Rechkemmer

EDITOR'S NOTE: MOD VOICES is thrilled to present Fawn Rechkemmer. Fawn has been a long-time friend of the Museum of Discovery and we're happy to have her present a recap of the December 11 Arkansas Women Blogger event at the Museum of Discovery.


As an event planner, it’s always hard to come to grips with the idea that nothing is definite when you pull together a first-time event. So, when Stephanie Buckley (aka The Park Wife) called and told me that we had been offered the opportunity to have a meetup for the Arkansas Women Bloggers at the Museum of Discovery, I was excited, a little nervous, and very curious about what the end result would be.

Luckily, putting the event together seemed to evolve fairly easily. The Park Wife lead the charge, along with Katie McManners from Museum of Discovery and Julie Kohl from WillowTreeCreek Farm.


Our advertising spread via word of mouth and our Facebook page for the most part, but we also had the added bonuses of a nice preview article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, and an excellent early morning appearance by the lovely LaTonya Richardson on KATV channel 7. We ended up with 44 bloggers and bloggers-to-be in attendance at the meetup.

A Chatty Crowd

Stephanie was a champ at approaching businesses for support, but many of our sponsors came to us, which was very exciting. Misty Willbanks and Petit Jean Meats provided turkey, ham, and summer sausage for our lunch, plus a whole ham to give away. Boulevard Bread provided 5 different kinds of bread, Kroger provided fruit and vegetable trays, and Cupcake Crazy provided 120 beautiful, yummy cupcakes. We also had a lot of great support from our member bloggers, who provided great door prizes including locally grown food, gourmet dog biscuits, eco-friendly candles and soaps, and a signed cookbook from The Pioneer Wife.


The meetup started off with blogger speed dating, led by Julie. This gave everyone a chance to get to know several people in the room. It was so fun to watch everyone match faces with blogs. Several times I introduced myself: "Hi, I'm Fawn." The response was, "Oh! you're Instead of the Dishes!" It was like attending a secret society meeting where everyone had code names. It was also interesting to see different types of bloggers mixing. The author-blogger chatting with the fitness blogger, the surgeon blogger with the mommy blogger, and the foodie blogger with the lifestyle blogger, all chatting it up. Overall, it was an incredible group of women, many of whom were brave enough to come out to our meetup despite the fact that they didn't know anyone else there!

Speed-Dating Bloggers

 
 
 

 
 
Next on the docket was lunch.  While we munched, we were treated to two mini-talks by seasoned bloggers (see pictures in post below).  The first talk was from LaTonya Richardson on finding your blog niche. She made us all laugh as she invited us all to work hard at just being ourselves, because no one else can do that better.  So, so true. Kyran Pittman finished out the "formal" part of our program with a chat about avoiding the numbers game for blogging.  Turns out Kyran speaks just as well as she writes, and certainly she is the poster child for making HUGE things happen as a result of a small blog. Huge Thanks to both of these ladies, who added so much value to our afternoon.
 
 

 
 
Finally, our elegant hostess, Katie McManners, let us all in on future plans for the Museum and touted MOD Voices guest blogger perks such as behind-the-scenes hard-hat tours of the upcoming expansion project.  Museum of Discovery will be completely re-doing their "You" over the next year, and I'm sure they'll be paying attention to their numbers. That's ok, though, because their enthusiasm for being an integral part of the community is outstanding, as is evidenced by their invitation to host our inaugural meetup.  Either that, or Katie didn't realize what an unruly bunch us bloggers can be.

==============================

Fawn Rechkemmer is a freelance writer/editor with a love for learning new things and a hatred for all things domestic. She has mastered the skills of reading book club novels while playing hide and go seek, convincing other women to cook her husband dinner, and saving money by swapping therapist fees for a YMCA membership.  Fawn blogs at http://insteadofthedishes.com.

Rome wasn't built in a day...nor was a construction wall

As you may know, we start construction to transform the Museum of Discovery into a premier science center! We're still open to the public, so East Harding, our construction company, is building a temporary wall to protect our visitors. Check out this short video for the last look of this area of downstairs as it once was...the next time you see it, the area will have new exhibits!

Arkansas Women Blogger event

The Museum of Discovery was delighted to host the first ever meetup of the Arkansas Women Bloggers!  Over 50 women bloggers attended.  As a science & technology center, the Museum of Discovery wants to encourage the use of technology in everyday life--and bloggers do exactly that! A full wrap up of event will follow next week by our next MOD VOICES guest blogger. For now, here are a few pictures.


A light lunch was provided thanks to many sponsors



LaTonya Richardson talked about "finding your voice"

Kyran Pittman talked about "the pros and cons of the numbers game"

Good enough to tell Granny!

Editor's Note: MOD Voices is pleased to welcome one of our favorite 'behind the scenes of radio' guys, Chuck Gatlin! 

Until last Wednesday, my kids and I had never been to the Museum of Discovery together. My kids have both been with school groups or daycare field trips, but Wednesday was the first time I was able to see them enjoy the museum.

Our visit started on a high note. I was able to find a great parking spot with 25 minutes left on the meter. How cool is that?

Our first stop was Room To Grow. Emma, my 2 yr old, had a ball. As soon as she would get to one play area, she could hardly wait to get to the next. She especially liked the little stage and the barnyard.

Since Room To Grow is for kids 6 and under, my 8 yr old, Robert, and I left Emma with mom and we hit the big kid (and aren’t we all big kids?) stuff.

We weren’t in there two minutes before Robert ran into one his friends from school. And that was it. They ran from exhibit to exhibit…“Hey, come do this…come check this out…no, come do this…watch what this does.”


 

The cloud maker was the big hit. Robert was quick to correct me when I made the mistake of calling it smoke coming out. He said “dad, it’s not smoke, it’s steam.”

Another one of Robert’s favorite stops was the earthquake table. He built and destroyed a small city of wooden block buildings.

Eventually, we made it to Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World. Each display was approached with much trepidation. The kids wouldn’t open any of the flaps for fear that a bug would fly out at them. When we were in the kitchen area, Robert found the cockroaches in the "under the counter area" a bit disturbing. He kept a safe distance and didn’t spend any longer than necessary looking at them.

 

Before we left, we took on a family project.

We put together the large topographical puzzle of Arkansas. We were so proud of ourselves.

That evening, we made the 3 hour drive to my mom’s house in Paragould. After we got there, Annette and I were in the kitchen having a bite to eat and we could hear the conversation from the living room.


“Granny, we went to the Museum of Discovery today. They have this thing that you push down on and it makes clouds. And there’s a baton that’s straight and when you push it, it goes through a curved hole. And they have an earthquake table with blocks you can build with and then watch’em fall.”

I think any parent would agree that you know you have had a successful outing when it’s good enough to tell Granny about.

* * * * * * * * * * *

 

Chuck is the Promo Guy for the Point 94.1, husband to Annette, father to Robert and Emma, and drummer for Canvas and the Little Rock First Christian Church Praise Band.

BIG BANG event

Wednesday, December 1, we held a special event called "THE BIG BANG" where we announced plans for our upcoming renovations and construction!  For more information, visit http://www.anewmod.org/ .  Below are a few pictures from the event. 

Bylites Setup for Wonderful Audio Visual

Special seating awaits the VIPs

Demolition wall, thanks to East Harding!

Confetti stands ready to be used...

First Lady Beebe, MOD Board Chair Bob Childress, MOD Executive Director Nan Selz

Mayor Stodola welcomes Bob Childress

Kids from North Little Rock start the demolition!

Rotating Table

Have you ever wondered why storms seem to move along a curved path? It's a phenomenon called the "Coriolis effect," which states that objects on a rotating surface will move toward the opposite direction in which the surface is spinning-- so, if the surface is spinning to the right, the object will veer left, and vice-versa. Here at the Museum, we have a rotating table exhibit that shows this effect happening in real time:

Fun! Come experience the Coriolis effect and more, right here at the Museum of Discovery!

Heat-Sensing Camera

Did you know that rattlesnakes use infrared light to "see" their prey? They use "pits" between their nostrils and eyes to detect an object's warmth-- which tells the snake whether it's looking at a live mouse or something inanimate. If you want to see what this looks like from the snake's point of view, check out our infrared camera:

We call that a healthy glow! Infrared-sensing technology has also been used in some night vision equipment, astronomy, and to help find leaks in insulation. Come see yourself in a new light, right now at the Museum of Discovery!

It’s Not Burnt; It’s The Maillard Effect, Justin Wright

I love science and math. I also love to cook. I find it fascinating that even the simplest things you might do in the kitchen can involve some very complex science.

One interesting application of science in the kitchen is the Maillard Reaction.

In the 1910s, French scientist Louis-Camille Maillard was studying with how proteins are created in nature and described the "non-enzymatic browning" of sugars and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) under heat.

What he found was that when certain sugars and amino acids are heated they will react in a way that produces brown "melanoids" and different aromas and flavors, depending on the amino acids involved.

When cooking, this process can create hundreds of different aromas and flavoring compounds (as many as 600 have been found in the aroma of beef), and an array of colors. Knowing which acids and sugars combine to create specific flavors is the basis for making artificial flavors for food. In the human body, the study of these reactions may help understand problems related to diabetes and degenerative eye disease.

Sometimes, the caramelization of sugars is confused with the Maillard reaction, because they sometimes occur at the same time and produce similar effects. They are both "non-enzymatic browning", but the difference is that caramelization involves the breaking down of sugar with heat instead of reacting with amino acids. Oddly enough, caramel in candies made from milk and sugar isn't made entirely from caramelization of the sugars, since the proteins in the milk make Maillard reactions likely.

A simple experiment to demonstrate Maillard reactions would be to simply make some toast. Toasting bread is probably the most common example of these types of reactions.

See how toasting different types of breads, bagels vs english muffins,whole grain vs white, result in different smells and colors. Does the end of the loaf taste different from the middle? Does one smell better than another?

When you've finished examining the toast, spread some peanut butter on it (roasted peanuts are another good example) or some roasted meat (yes, that too) and enjoy.


When not cooking or chasing his son around the Museum of Discovery's Room to Grow, Justin develops software for a local consulting firm and rarely blogs at Yet Another Obligatory Wordpress Blog

NEW EXHIBIT: The Grid...sponsored by Southwest Power Pool

We're so excited to announce our latest permanent exhibit: THE GRID!

Learn about what "the grid" is an why it's so important to our every day use of electricity.

Sponsored by Southwest Power Pool

Come see it soon!

Petrified Log is moved

For years, we have had a petrified log housed outside our side entrance; it was part of our small nature display that included a live beehive. 

Soon, this area will be taken over by construction so the log needed a new home!

 (We start construction December 1, 2010 but we will remain

open through March 2011 so come visit!)

Heavy equipment was called in.

Will the straps hold?

Fortunately Arkansas Game and Fish came to the rescue and offered to give the log a new home...just 100 feet away at the Stephens Nature Center.

The new spot awaits...

The old spot is now (almost) cleared so that construction may begin December 1!

The petrified log in its new home.

Mindfulness exercise with overnight campers

A school from Nashville, Tennessee visits the Museum of Discovery every year for a "camp-in." The students arrive at the Museum around 6pm, enjoy activities and food until the wee hours of the morning, and reluctantly fall asleep amongst the museum's exhibits. In the morning, this group demonstrated something extraordinary. Turn your sound WAY up. There is hardly anything to hear...180 students still and silent while their teacher led them in a mindfulness exercise. To book your group's Night at the Museum Camp-In, contact Beth Nelsen at (501) 396-7061 or bnelsen@amod.org

Museum Membership Deal!


WHY IS EVERYONE SO EXCITED?

Elmo says, "YAY!"



Because you can get up to TWO YEARS OF MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY MEMBERSHIP for the price of one!

 
WHY?  As you may know, the Museum of Discovery will be closed April - December 2011 for a complete renovation. We'll reopen in January 2012


We'll still have our events and activities and programs at other locations while the building is closed so you can still enjoy your membership benefits!


Kids are jumping for joy!

So...come visit us through March 2011 before the big changes come. Then, while we're closed, continue to enjoy membership benefits like admission to other science and children's museums (depending on your membership level). When when we reopen in January 2012, you get a brand new membership card that is good through December 2012!

Harry's Big Adventure: My Bug World

SO WHAT HAPPENS TO MY MEMBERSHIP WHILE YOU ARE CLOSED? Keep enjoying the benefits! Depending on your level of membership, you get free admission to science and children's museums in Arkansas and around the country. Also, you'll be invited to special 'hard hat tours' to see behind the scenes during our construction. Plus, occasionally we'll have special offers for members (for example, November's member benefit is "Playtime Pizza Bucks"). WHAT?  Read more about our membership levels and benefits HERE. (We recommend the Contributing Level because it gets you free admission to science and children's museums around the country...perfect for vacations!)
 
HOW?  Easy online signup is available HERE
 

Snoopy is thrilled

 
WHO? Anyone! Perfect gift for the holidays and birthdays!


OK WHAT IS THE CATCH? Really, there is no catch. But if you need to hear this great news from a live human, or have questions about how this affects your CURRENT membership, contact Katie McManners at (501) 396-7050 ext 214.

Date with Discovery

Editor's Note: MOD Voices is thrilled to welcome blogger JoBeth McElhanon.  We invited JoBeth and her husband to come on a date to the Museum of Discovery.  Let's see what she had to say about her outing.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I had the most perfect date in the heart of Little Rockʼs Rivermarket. We didnʼt linger over coffee. We didnʼt savor fine food in a restaurant. We didnʼt dance the night away in a club. We laughed, engaged in witty banter, and learned new things about each other at the Museum of Discovery.

 

Entry to Museum of Discovery, Downtown Little Rock

A date? At the Museum of Discovery? Why yes, let me explain. Websterʼs defines “date” as an act of meeting and engaging in some mutually agreed upon social activity between two people with the aim of assessing the otherʼs suitability in an intimate relationship or as a spouse.
 
Being a hopeless romantic, I have never stopped to think that “a date” is indeed an assessment - a science experiment of sorts set up to answer the questions. How does he react in this situation? Does he exhibit the properties I desire? Do I possess the properties he desires? Am I measuring up? What is it exactly we are looking for in each other? Is he adventurous? Am I graceful? Is he brave? Am I warm? Is he flexible? Is my head in the clouds when Iʼm with him?
 
Whether you are on your first date or your 1000th date, these are questions we should never stop asking. With that in mind, the husband and I set out to DISCOVER the answers one Saturday afternoon.

Our first stop at the Museum of Discovery was “Harryʼs Big Adventure. My Bug World!” We meandered through the exhibit observing all creepy crawly things.

I was wearing my brave face. I was doing pretty good until we were came upon interactive exhibit / our first challenge: chocolate covered crickets and Mealworm Salsa. The buggy chef was touting her treats. We agreed to try the chocolate crickets. And then, the hubs surprised me. He tried the Mealworm Salsa. Weʼre talking little green leggy worms hanging out in tomatoes. He ate it! Now, thatʼs adventurous.
 
 

Mealworm Salsa, tastings every Saturday and Sunday through January 8, 2011

 
 
Not to mention he saved me from that mean olʼ Harry the Praying Mantis. My husband was proving himself to be a real Prince Charming.
 
 

Photo booth in Harry's Big Adventure exhibit

We continued our journey through bug world to the butterfly room. In this virtual experience animated butterflies flittered about and alighted on me. It was time Prince Charming knew how much of a virtual Snow White I am. I mean, if a butterfly lands on me, I must be graceful as she, right? 

Butterfly Room in Harry's Big Adventure exhibit

Proving that he is brave and I am graceful, we still had more to learn about each other. We strolled to Health Hall. We tested our blood pressure to see just how strong our hearts were. Glad to report, weʼre in good shape there. (Due to HIPPA, youʼll have to take my word on that.)
 
 

Health Hall Blood Pressure Testing Station

Next came the real test of a relationship - flexibility. After 11 years of marriage, we admit we both are stubborn. We donʼt bend as easily as we did in the early years, or do we? According to the flexibility test, the hubs has an excellent flexibility range and mine was off the chart. So , maybe we arenʼt as stubborn as we thought. If we can bend a lot physically, surely we can learn to bend a little emotionally.

So far we learned: we are brave, graceful, strong hearted, and flexible. Great qualities in a spouse, but what about “the heat”? All great relationships have heat? Do we? According to the thermography scanner we do. Weʼre hot all over (except for my nose. itʼs always cold). It was at this exhibit we bumped into a younger couple - on a date. They were laughing and giggling and making crazy eyes at each other. Ah, young love. Then I realized, we, the old married couple, had been doing the very same thing all the way through the museum. Eleven years later and our our heads were in the clouds. Literally. There were honest to goodness clouds! They were rising from the lower level where children played and made cloud rings. We ran down the stairs, pushed the kiddos out of the way (not really) and started to make our very own clouds.

One of the many quotes on the "Einstein Wall"

While the sound of laughter and learning rang out in the Museum, I realized, what a great treat this day was. On our 1000th plus date, we were having fun, learning new things about each other. We didnʼt have to wait to bring our nieces and nephews to enjoy this Little Rock treasure. The Museum of Discovery is a fabulous, creative date spot for adults. Plato was right. “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” What are you waiting for? Make that call. Send that text. Ask that cutie for a date to the Museum of Discovery. You never know, while you are there, you may discover love.  
 

Harry the Praying Mantis

JoBeth McElhanon

JoBeth McElhanon is an active community volunteer and a BIG fan of Little Rock.  She is a former marketing director and registered dietitian turned blogger. Her mission is to help other women live gracious, beautiful, strong lives and find the perfect shoe.  She and her husband Phillip can often be found scouting out the south’s best barbecue. Despite her recent date to Arkansas MOD, she has zero plans to incorporate mealworms into her diet or holiday entertaining.