the risupia children’s museum at the panasonic center is a beautifully designed experience that explores math and science concepts through innovative social interfaces. my favorite are ‘big tangram’ and ‘prime number air hockey.’ in the first, children try to match a projected tangram by arranging foam shapes on the ground – which takes a lot of complicated spatial reasoning, not to mention group-work. in the second, children play air hockey with numbers, dividing them with every collision until they become prime and pass through. the other interfaces are hybrid tangible – graphical explorations of light and color, among other phenomena of interest to budding panasonic engineers (see slide show below). the entire experience in the space is recorded and when you leave you are given an id to access the memoir of your personal journey (above).
