Identity
An Exhibition of You

Available Monday, Wednesday and Friday, November 16, 2007-April 18, 2008
$14 per student and $3 per chaperone. Includes admission to all exhibits except Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination

(Minimum 30 students; maximum 60.)

Identity

Biology, Sociology, Psychology

November 16, 2007 - April 20, 2008

We're all made of a thousand little stories.
What are yours?

Explore how the physical, psychological and social elements in your life create Identity: An Exhibition of You. This unique exhibit takes the science behind identity and makes it personal, engaging you and your students with hands-on interactive components that challenge us all to see ourselves from a different perspective.

Identity is divided into three areas. Explore the extent to which inherited genes determine our physical identity. Observe how chemical balances in the brain affect our psychological identity. Evaluate how the people around us modify our social identity. Students can compare their fingerprints, measure whether they are introverted or extroverted, and rethink the ways they interact and identify with particular social groups. Take another look at yourself at Identity…you might be surprised by what you see.

Live Shows and Hands-On Workshops

Brain Perception Show

Reservations required. Duration 25 minutes.

Your brain is where your identity truly lives, but how reliable is it? Explore how accurately your brain processes the world around you. See functional MRIs and other brain imaging to learn about what is actually going on in your brain as you test your memory and perception in this dynamic live show. Current cutting-edge brain research will be highlighted in the high school program.

DNA Workshops

Grades 3-5
Why do we look the way we do? DNA is the starting point for our physical appearance. In this hands-on exploration, students collect cells from their mouths and take an up-close and personal look at their DNA. Armed with a new appreciation for this amazing molecule, they then engage in a set of activities designed to explore the topics of inheritance and genetics.

Grades 6-8
Your DNA is the starting point for your physical identity. But what would happen if someone gained access to your DNA? Students collect cells from their mouths and learn how easy it is to extract their own DNA. Using current events that highlight DNA usage in criminal cases, insurance coverage and/or medical testing, students engage in a discussion about the privacy issues surrounding DNA.

Grades 9-12
Humans are 99.9% percent alike with respect to our DNA. What does that mean? Find out in this workshop that investigates the genetic similarities between all humans. Students collect cheek cells to extract their DNA, and using real genetic tools, they analyze DNA sequence data between different people to learn more about the universal “thread of life.”

Complete Curriculum Correlations for grades 1-12, online at www.fi.edu/teacherresources.

Tuttleman IMAX Theater

Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France
Wired to Win presents a new portrait of the brain-an organ built to learn, changing its cell structure with each thought and experience. It continually adapts itself to our needs and gives us the ability to determine in large part who we are and who we become. See here for more information.

Become Part of the Exhibit

Become Part of the Exhibit

When you reserve the Identity Experience for your class, you are invited to take part in an art project that will be a permanent part of this exhibit. We would like each child to create a collage representing the three elements that define who they are: a physical trait or talent inherited from their parents, a social trait indicative of their friends or community, and a psychological trait that shows how they feel about themselves. These areas correspond to the three main topic areas of the exhibit. The artwork will be mounted as part of a collage for exhibition. Additional information is available online at www.fi.edu/identitywall.

Identity is a new exhibit developed by The Franklin Institute for the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative.
Major funding provided by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.