Tuesday in Edinburgh – What’s On Today

Old Mac’s Munchkins – new farm-themed playgroup. An hour of farm-themed storytelling, crafts, play and songs. For children 2+. 10am today and every Tuesday, Gorgie City Farm (meet at the red tractor), 51 Gorgie Road. £2 per child, no need to book. For more information call 0131 337 4202.

Scottish Country Dancing Taster Session: brush up your steps for St Andrew’s Night at this free session. All welcome regardless of experience level. 7.45pm, Central Hall, Tolcross, EH3 9BP. Organised by the Edinburgh branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dancing Society (www.rscds.org)

Demonstration of Traditional Oil Painting: The Portrait. Instructors from the Academy of Realist Art demonstrate the traditional layering process of oil painting as used by 19th century academies. 12 noon-4.30pm (drop-in session), Main Gallery Floor, National Gallery of Scotland, The Mound. Free and unticketed.

GENERATION: What’s It All About? Moira Jeffrey, art critic at The Scotsman, talks about capturing the past and present of contemporary art in Scotland in the books created for the GENERATION project. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Gallery of Scotland, The Mound. Free and unticketed.

American versus French Impressionism: a Debate. Richard R Brettell, Margaret McDermott Distinguished Chair of Art and Aesthetics, University of Texas at Dallas, and Richard Thomson, Professor of Fine Art, University of Edinburgh, will discuss the aesthetic and national differences between American and French modernism.  6-7.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Gallery of Scotland, The Mound. Free and unticketed.

The Future of Learning: Professor Sugatra Mitra, University of Newcastle, will talk through the origins of schooling to the dematerialisation of institutions as we know them. Sugatra will discuss the results of his 13 years of research, which show that children can organise their own learning, achieve educational objectives on their own and read by themselves – what’s more, with access to the internet they can learn anything by themselves. Sugatra will also talk about the implications of this research worldwide. 4.30-5.30pm, Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre, Napier University Craiglockhart Campus, Glenlockhart Road. Free but please email lectures@napier.ac.uk to register your interest.