Science Centre

I've got some family over from Canada at the moment and so we decided to do something touristy and took them along to the Science Centre at Pacific Quay/ Cessnock on Monday.

It was absolutely hoaching with people - there were millions of kids just running around, playing with all the different exhibits, giggling, screaming and generally having a great time.

From previous visit I knew that the exhibits are mainly aimed at kids, but there is enough going on to keep the big people occupied too. There are hundreds of different little stands, covering all aspects of science - from light refraction and prisms, to motor power/ pendulums and pistons, to biology and the inner working of the human body. Each is explained through a simple working model/ test/ game or experiment and a short card explaining the principles. I got the feeling that kids were more interested in playing the games and moving on as fast as possible and not so bothered about hanging around to understand what it was all about. Kids probably get more out of it if some of the principles have been discussed before they get there.

While most of the Centre seems to stay the same, there are enough changing pieces to make return visits worthwhile - not sure if the changing of items is due to design or due to over enthusiastic kids puling to hard. My favourite thing - as was the case on my previous trips - was the reaction wall - a wall covered in little white dots which light up randomly. The time it takes for you to hit a sequence of these is recorded and you can add you time to a long list on the wall. (I got 2.17secs this time - not my best, but there was a large line of kids waiting for a shot so I couldn't practise for long.) We then took a break to get some food - the last time I was there they had a really nice wee cafe. Not sure if they were having problems yesterday - but there was next to no food and hardly any staff serving. We ended up with some rubbishy wee pies and some crisps. Quite disapointing when there are large images of fresh sandwhichs and piping hot soup hanging up all over the place and pretty unhealthy - given we'd just learned about eating rubbish in the biology exhibit upstairs.

One new exhibit - which I didn't manage to get a shot of - was the brain power machine. You and an opponent sit at opposite ends of a table with headbands on which run to a small machine and which in turn are connected to a glass tube, fixed to the table. In the tube is a a ball and the idea is that you try and enter a calm, meditative like state which then forces the ball into the other players goal and you win. looked like good fun and I might have to go back another time to check it out.

We missed out on the brain machine as we had tickets for the planetarium show - which was brill and well worth the extra £2. It is a bit short and is aimed at the kids - with some audience partition required in the form of oohing, aahing and pretending to blow away the clouds. The effect however is amazing and you really do feel like you are lying back looking up at a glorious, clear, star filled sky. Not sure if they run any other kinds of talks - maybe aimed at older kids/ grown ups, or if they run specific talks that you can go to without having reattend the rest of the centre, but if they don't, then they should.

We also didn't make it to any of the free, workshops/ talks or experiment which take place throughout the day in the various lecture theatres, lab rooms - these too look like fun and allow the kids to dress up in lab coats and play about with some experiments. Actually when I think about it, despite being there for three hours we hardly scratched the surface of the place - not only did we not do the above, we also didn't go to the upper floor or manage to go to the Imax or even go up the tower. A second trip is in order.

Science Centre - whats on and directions