Free family events take place on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 November at the Scottish Parliament to celebrate St Andrew’s day at the end of the month.
The Parliament, in partnership with the Glasgow Science Centre, has created a programme of events to inspire children and adults to invent, innovate and investigate science and the challenges of design while learning more about the Scottish Parliament. Visitors will also get the chance to view a new exhibition dedicated to the principles of design and democracy.
On Friday 25 November a rocket building workshop will be held while on Saturday 26 November the programme extends to experiments harnessing windpower; remote controlled vehicles and speed and motion. A Wallace and Gromit inspired area will allow families to try and recreate some of the inventions created for the popular characters.
Science communicators will be on hand to conduct on-the-spot performances to teach about the human body and how it works. On Saturday, one of the sessions entitled ‘Blood, Bile and Body Bits’ takes this theme further looking at digestion and circulation while ‘Bodyworks’ is an active learning zone.
The family events are free and will run from 11.30am-3.30pm on Friday 25 November and 11.00am-5.00pm on Saturday 26 November.
Along with the family activities, visitors will have the first opportunity to view the Parliament’s major new exhibition featuring graduate works from all four of Scotland’s art colleges – Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee; Edinburgh College of Art; Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen; and The Glasgow School of Art. The exhibition, called Design & Democracy, is a first for the Parliament and will run until March 2012.
The 16 exhibits have been selected to showcase how inspired design can be both life enhancing and creative. They include photographic essays, model storefronts, innovative graphic design and products designed for specific use.