Learning Time - Science and Engineering!
For those who’ve been following this blog off and on you may be mistaken for thinking that I’ve been trying to train Imogen up to be a future artist. Far from it, I’ve just been trying to provide as much stimulus to her spngey little brain as possible. As a scientist through and through, there’s been plenty from this side as well.
We popped into the kopenlab science festival when Grandma and Grandad were here. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was free and free science, plus it was in the Carlsberg district which I wanted to look around. The festival was set around zones with names such as Discovery and Explore.
Once I’d managed to prise Immy from the free hammocks (another reason to be happy in CPH!) we headed over to one of the zones which was a mixture of local University PhD an Post Docs explaining their projects the lay public. There was cool stuff to see here:
A beam of electrons bent by a magnet to explain a syncotron
A high powered laser cutter, cutting out MDF prototypes
A camera system to map your face in 3D on a computer
A 3D printer, constructing amazing models
A solar powered car that had raced across Australia
Across the whole site there was too much to see and we couldn’t work out where all of it was, but it was a great festival to dip into.
Imogen had campaigned for a while for me to take her to Experimentarium city. This is the temporary exhibition centre for CPH’s hands on science museum, whilst the main Experimentarium is being refurbed. The entry fee here was a bit steep and I was worried that it was going to be too advanced for Imogen. However I then calmed down and remembered that she can’t read so its all still advanced and that the day was just about inspiring her.
Experimentarium city is based across two large warehouse spaces, with exhibits roughly grouped into themed areas. It was a real mix here across the age ranges and complexity from purely fun games to in-depth explanations. At the one end of the spectrum is the ever popular bubble mixture and the ability to make a giant bubble around your child. Whilst at the tough end was an exhibit, involving a game to explain how catalysts work. The most inspiring for both Immy and I was the model of a beating heart. This was housed in a clear perspex column and was squirting up a fountain of blood with each pump. Ingeniously when you placed your hands on two handprints, it picked up your pulse and beat to your rhythm. This was unnervingly like watching your own heart beat and it was cool to see the difference in speed between Immy and I.
The big temporary exhibit at the moment is linked to the 2014 winter olympics. Here the science behind every winter sport was picked apart and presented in a fun way. I thought that Albert would make a better driver in the bobsleigh but Imogen wouldn’t have it.
Finally for summer they have a big outdoor water play area. Guttering, buckets, bean-bags and water; it doesn’t sounds that fun, but it was both fun for me and inspiring for Imogen when we got stuck in. Probably one to repeat at home if I can get some guttering off-cuts.
At the moment there is a Da Vinci exhibition in town at the old aquarium up in Charlottenlund in the North of CPH. This is a touring exhibition showing a lot of models made from Da Vinci’s original sketches. This was very much one for Dad to enjoy but did provide some further inspiration for Imogen.
The octagon of mirrors was proving very popular. This was conceived by Da Vinci as a means to see the same object from all sides at the same time. To those who’ve said I’ve been largely missing from my own blog here I am … repeatedly.
The highlight for the kids here was the room downstairs where everyone could get hands on with some basic gears to see how Da Vinci planed some of his ideas. He didn’t’ invent these basic gears but he put them to good use. Grandad will be pleased to know that a worm gear was explained to Immy.