Henry Franks

Mind The Universe is an interactive session during which children, age 11–14, experiment with the physics of everyday happenings in order to understand and experience the psychological benefits of mindfulness. A layered format of education is achieved through engaging activities and interactions featuring a series of extraordinary objects. These experiences are supported by animations and scripted narration, delivering a graduated flow of complexity to accommodate all ability levels.

Once the child has learnt the conceptual framework for mindfulness, they have the capacity to recall and recreate the concepts introduced through the session as thought experiments. This recreation enables the child to experience the psychological benefits of Mind The Universe outside of the classroom. Without a conceptual framework, there is no way to interpret an experience.

The main objects in the session include:

The Cosmic Compass – a machine that points in the direction our galaxy is moving through space.

One Wave Glasses – glasses with a rotating polarised sheet that allows you to see the world in only one direction of polarised light.

Quad Tonoscope – a cymatic instrument requiring four people to sing into the device and harmonise, enabling them to see the shape of sound.